Extrusion International 6-2022

46 Extrusion International 6/2022 RECYCLING – CASE STUDY High-Strength Synthetic Nonwoven Now Made With a Recycled Content of 10 Percent Inhouse recycling is nothing new, but it is worth taking a closer look when it comes to the complex recycling of high-strength PP nonwovens for civil engineering. The shredder-extruder combination from PURE LOOP produces such high quality recycled pellets that the customer can now use a recyclate content of up to 10 percent in nonwoven production. I t is impossible to imagine the con- struction industry without geosyn- thetics. PP nonwovens, for example - mechanically bonded continuous fibres made from specially UV-stabi - lised polypropylenes – are often used in blanket form as barriers, screens and filters, and their strength extends the service life of construction proj- ects. Whether for road construction, or as barrier on glaciers or against weeds - there are myriad applications. This type of PP nonwoven can now be recycled using PURE LOOP ISEC evo technology. The customer is TenCate Geosynthetics, part of the Canadian company Solmax. The Eu- ropean company with locations in Austria, France and the Netherlands is specialised in the development and production of geotextiles for modern civil engineering applications. The edge trimmings and production rejects generated during manufactur- ing used to be recycled at the Linz site, but not fed back into the company's own production process. "It wasn't an issue at the time because the recy- clate was sold. But in the meantime, it has become clear that reselling our valuable production waste is not an ideal solution, especially in view of the rising raw material prices. That is why we investigated the market to see which recycling technology would make it possible to produce recylate that meets our production quality," says Jürgen Gruber, Head of Market- ing (Europe/Middle-East/Africa) at TenCate Geosynthetics. "The demands on us were high," recalls Patrick Wiesinger, project manager at PURE LOOP. "The PP nonwoven is highly tear resistant, which means its a very challenging recycling process. Our ISEC evo ma- chine conserves the quality of the production waste really well during recycling, so we were able to achieve the specified increase in quality for the recyclates." Wide range of material shapes Another advantage of PURE LOOP technology is the wide range of shapes in which the production scrap can be delivered for process- ing. "At TenCate, one of the ways production scrap is delivered is on huge rolls. I'm talking about a width of up to 5 metres," emphasizes Pat- rick Wiesinger. "Our ifeed technol- ogy with double feed ram system and singleshaft shredder offers the ideal conditions for direct process- ing of these large rolls - and without the need for prior preparation of the input material by employees before the material is fed into the recycling process." With the ISEC evo recycling machine TenCate can now manufac- ture its high-strength PP nonwoven product with a recyclate content of up to 10 percent. Even when you need to process production remnants on 5-metre-wide rolls, it's no problem for the PURE LOOP machine ISEC evo 302 E. The synthetic non-woven material is drawn in, shredded and processed into recyclate, before it can then be fed back into production. From the left: Günther Sebera (Head of Purchasing, TenCate Geosynthetics Austria), Gundolf Sabathiel (Plant Manager Linz, TenCate Geosynthetics), Patrick Wiesinger (Project Manager, PURE LOOP) and Jürgen Gruber (Marketing Director Europe/Middle-East/Africa, TenCate Geosynthetics) (Pictures, credit: PURE LOOP)