When the production phase of any film and non-woven happens, then it is more economic when the material losses that happen are reduced to a bare minimum.
Here, we will delve into the benefits of using the 'in-line' recycling technology.
The edge and bleed trim during the post-production phase is produced during the cast or chill-roll film, blow film, thermoforming sheet film, as well as for the non-woven products.
In a perfect scenario, the production line will run without any glitches with minimal post-production waste produced. If this waste is fed directly into the process, then the benefits will be really good. In several industrial production processes, the trims are used by a blower to a crusher and then to a storage hopper. After that the flakes will be mixed with some granules and then it will be processed to the main extruder of the production line.
There are several disadvantages of 'of-line' procedure-
The capacity is restricted to 5-15% of the total scrap capacity
The quality problems will occur particularly when processing high transparent film
The material used can be harmed
During the processing phase the scrap will increase the moisture and will cause further quality problems
Secondary handling of materials and other additional costs have to be bared
Another approach can be to recycle the waste directly back into the line. This solution will help in avoiding several recycling drawbacks.
Direct In-Line recycling of Edge Trims
In this process, a vented extruder is attached to the main extruder through a heated melted pipe and the optional metering pump and the melt filter with the pressure control loop. The extruder section is fixed with a special designed draw-in roller feed system and a large diameter conical design. It allows the edges to be melted and fed straightaway and back.
Feeding the post manufacturing waste back into the process is the most efficient and least damaging route for the polymer to adopt, as the operations are melting it only once again.
Direct In-Line recycling of all Waste
To recycle more from the edge trim, a hybrid system is developed which replaces the roller with a storage hopper that is placed above the extruder. In this process if there's any processing waste, then the plant can be processed into the off-line granulator and feed into the hopper.
This system brings two advantages-
Granulation is completely independent of the extrusion process and can happen in a separate factory too to avoid any kind of noise and dust pollution in the production area.
A single system can re-process the waste from several extrusion lines
In all cases, there are specific designs to meet the producer's and bopet film manufacturer's special cases. All the capital investments will be returned within 12 months.
