Linie do przetwarzania odpadów tworzywowych

From the perspective of selecting equipment for a processing plant, it is convenient to divide the recycling process into two stages:

• Processing waste into one of the primary raw material intermediates — "agglomerate," "crushed material," or "flakes."
• Manufacturing the final processed product — granulate — from the primary processing intermediates.

As a starting point to simplify the selection of components for a processing complex aimed at producing primary intermediates, we, along with our partners, have developed several conditionally standard configurations of processing lines. Each conditionally standard configuration represents our vision of the set of devices required to process one of the waste groups, which we have categorized based on the homogeneity of physical properties. For the purpose of configuring processing lines, three such groups are identified:

Solid Thin-Walled Waste: This group includes solid polymer waste with a wall thickness of up to 5 mm. Examples include waste from plastic canisters, buckets, crates, barrels, etc. Solid thick-walled waste is not treated as a separate group because, for its processing, only the crusher needs to be replaced in the line — a single-shaft shredder should be included instead of a crusher. The raw material intermediate obtained from processing waste in this group is traditionally referred to by processors as "Crushed Material."

Film and Thread-Like Waste : This group includes all types of films (stretch (LDPE), LDPE, HDPE, PP, PET, etc.), film bags and pouches, polypropylene bags, and big bags (FIBC), etc. The raw material intermediate obtained from processing waste in this group traditionally has the general name "Agglomerate."

PET Container Waste: We have singled out PET bottle waste as a separate group. While PET bottle waste could also be classified as solid thin-walled waste, we do not do so because a flotation bath is not always necessary for a solid thin-walled waste line, whereas it is almost always required for a PET container processing line. The raw material intermediate obtained from processing waste in this group is traditionally referred to by processors as "Flakes."

All primary raw material intermediates obtained from processing waste from the respective plastic groups can, if necessary, be granulated. For this purpose, granulation lines (also called "granulators") are used, which are essentially granulating extruders. We have separated granulation lines from the primary processing lines because a processor may or may not equip their production with them.

The semi-standardized production lines are designed in such a way that the processor can switch from one material to another without replacing the entire line. Most units in the line are universal and can handle any type of plastic waste. Typically, transitioning from processing one type of polymer waste to another requires only the replacement, addition, or removal of one or two devices. For example, the line for processing solid thin-walled waste (STW) differs from the line for processing PET waste only by the inclusion of a flotation unit. PET bottle waste is a specific case of solid thin-walled waste, and the approach to their recycling differs only in that PET containers often require the separation of the cap, ring, and label, which are not made of PET. For this purpose, a flotation unit ("flotation bath") is added to the line for processing solid thin-walled plastic waste, and the STW line becomes a PET waste processing line. At the same time, since the STW processing line has fewer units (no flotation), it is obviously cheaper. An entrepreneur looking to start a business related to plastic waste recycling can begin with solid thin-walled plastic waste (which is just as abundant in the market as PET waste) and later, if desired, upgrade the line with flotation to transition to PET recycling. Thus, the modularity of the equipment allows its users to flexibly manage their production setup.