Milliken & Company, a diversified global manufacturer with more than 70 locations worldwide, is partnering with European recycling leaders EREMA and PreZero at the upcoming K 2022 show to highlight the use of our Hyperform® HPN® performance additives in recycled polypropylene (rPP) compounds. Our common purpose is to close the loop and advance circularity.
At the October 19-26 trade fair in Düsseldorf, the Austria-based recycling machinery manufacturer EREMA will put its technology on full display. Operating in the EREMA Circonomic Centre in the outdoor area (OA/-CE03) of the fairgrounds, it will present a live recycling demonstration of recycled material supplied by German environmental services provider PreZero (Hall 8B/A57).
For the live recycling demonstration, the partners will use post-consumer waste that was collected by PreZero. Then, in an example of true value-chain collaboration, PreZero leverages its formulation expertise using EREMA recycling technology and Milliken’s Hyperform HPN additive to make the recycled PP resins. EREMA’s machinery innovation allows PreZero to create odor-optimized premium rPP pellets directly from contaminated post-consumer material.
Hyperform HPN upgrades the recycled PP by improving the material’s physical properties while also reducing the cycle time needed to process it. Additionally, these additives also provide for better dimensional control and crystallization stability during the post-injection molding period.
The efficient use of our HPN nucleating agent brings the performance of rPP closer to that of virgin PP. As PreZero likes to say: “With our plastic recycling activities we give seemingly worthless material, waste, a new life.”
Milliken’s popular Hyperform HPN performance additives contribute to faster, trouble-free production of both virgin and recycled PP and deliver proven energy savings. “UL Environment & Sustainability, a unit of the global UL group, has reviewed and certified that Hyperform HPN enabled an average of 5-8 percent energy savings for firms that injection mold thin-wall PP products,” notes Wim van De Velde, Milliken’s Global Vice President – Plastic Additives. “This helps users to lower costs, reduce carbon emissions[1] and advance circularity while producing stronger, lighter products. They also enable greater use of rPP in an increased number of applications.”
At the K show, EREMA will run its patented INTAREMA® TVEplus® RegrindPro® extruder system with ReFresher technology, which sets new standards in the recycling of materials that are difficult to process such as heavily printed films and very moist materials. This is made possible through ultrafine filtration, thorough melt homogenization, and high-performance degassing in a single step. The proven basic principle of TVEplus technology is that melt filtration takes place upstream of extruder degassing.
As Michael Heitzinger, Managing Director of EREMA Engineering Recycling Maschinen und Anlagen GmbH, explains: “The efficient interplay of our ReFresher technology with this proven extruder system makes it possible to achieve odor-optimized premium recycled pellets directly from contaminated post-consumer material. The unbeatable combination of top pellet quality and odor optimization opens up completely new application opportunities for recycled plastics.”
Visitors to K 2022 can watch a live recycling demonstration in the EREMA Circonomic Centre in the outdoor area (OA/-CE03) on two different days: Friday, October 21, from 10.00 am-1.30 pm, and on Wednesday, October 26, from 2.30-5.30 pm.
For more information on Milliken’s purposeful collaborations, visit us in Hall 06/6A27 at the K Show or k2022.milliken.com.