Extrusion International 4-2026

34 Extrusion International 4/2026 EXTRUSION TECHNOLOGIES, RECYCLING Extruder and EcoFresh Silo Degassing for Food-Safe Recompounds Coperion has received a Letter of No Objection (LNO) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) recycling technology. The letter con rms that the combination of Coperion twin screw extruders and EcoFresh silo degassing used in the manufacture of rHDPE and rPP ful lls the requirements for direct contact with food. C operion is the rst provider of complete decontamination sys- tems featuring twin screw extrud- ers and EcoFresh silo degassing to offer the market a highly ef cient solution for the production of food- grade recyclates, covering capaci- ties from small throughputs up to 6,000 kg/h. Coperion achieves the level of decontamination of rH- DPE and rPP required for the LNO through the interplay of these two proven technologies. The quality of this solution was validated in a challenge test and con rmed by the FDA. This opens up new possibilities for the recycling of food packaging: For example, food-grade regranulate can be produced from HDPE milk jugs or fruit juice bottles and then reused to manufacture similar bot- tles or related products. Food con- tainers, cups, bowls and trays made of PP can be recycled into new pack- aging for direct contact with food. Manufacturing food-grade rHDPE and rPP Manufacturing food-safe recy- clates is one of the greatest chal- lenges in plastics recycling. Such regranulates must be certi ed as suitable for direct contact with food, ful lling the highest require - ments for purity and safety. “The FDA's LNO means that rH- DPE and rPP manufactured with our technologies can be used for new food packaging in proportions up to 100 percent”, said Stefan Lachen- mayer, Global Commercial Director Recycling at Coperion. “As a result, we provide recyclers the assurance that our energy-ef cient mechani - cal recycling process manufactures high-quality recyclate for use cases A-H. These include, for example, packaging for high-temperature, heat-sterilized, pasteurized or fro- zen products.” Process steps for food safety Signi cant for this Coperion sys - tem's high decontamination per- formance are the co-rotating twin screw extruder's high degassing per- formance and the ef cient EcoFresh silo degassing system, where even low residence times are enough to reliably remove low-volatility migra- tory substances. Raw material for the Coperion food-safe rHDPE recyclate process consists of used HDPE beverage bottles or their caps. The material stream for rPP compounds consists of vegetable trays, packaging, yo- gurt containers, and the like. The material is fed into the ex- truder via Coperion K-Tron gravi- metric feeders, where it is rst melt - ed, intensively mixed, homogenized and degassed using twin screws. Coperion pro ts from its many years of experience in melt and solid devolatilization when designing process parameters and has con g - ured both the process and the screw con guration to optimally meet the requirements of the respective recy- cling application. Plastic is puri ed of solid foreign materials via a melt lter and then pelletized. Next the recompounds pass a second decontamination step in the newly developed and stan- dardized EcoFresh silo degassing unit. Food-grade tests at Coperion Recycling Innovation Center Recyclers can test the decontami- nation performance of the Coperion extruder and EcoFresh at the Co- perion Recycling Innovation Center where both technologies are avail- able for extensive trails using origi- nal material streams. Together with Herbold Meckesheim’s Test Center, where grinding and cleaning of raw materials takes place, Coperion can reproduce the entire recycling pro- cess in its test centers. “The basis for the suitability of our HDPE and PP recycling solutions for Coperion’s EcoFresh silo degassing system and its twin screw extruders have received a Letter of No Objection (LNO) from the FDA and are therefore suitable for the production of food-grade HDPE and PP recyclates (Photo: Coperion, Stuttgart Germany)