From the Sector

The EREMA Group, based in Ansfelden near Linz, Austria, closes the financial year 2023/24 with total revenues of EUR 380 million. A joint venture with the Lindner Group sees the group of companies expand its portfolio to include washing technology. EREMA Group GmbH now has eight subsidiaries: EREMA, PURE LOOP, PLASMAC, KEYCYCLE, Lindner Washtech, UMAC, plasticpreneur and 3S.

"With our machines and components, we have now reached a recycling volume of more than 25 million tonnes per year worldwide, which makes a significant contribution to the development of a circular economy for plastics," says Manfred Hackl, CEO of the EREMA Group. The group of companies manufactured 290 extruders for recycling plastic in the past financial year, supplemented by over 100 add-on components such as filter systems and ReFresher anti-odour technology. These recycling solutions generated total sales of EUR 380 million. Around 8,500 machines and components from the group are in operation in more than 100 countries. The EREMA Group employs 950 people worldwide.

Strategic investments in all areas of the plastics recycling industry
In recent years, the EREMA Group has invested in developing specific machines, applications and infrastructure. "The opening of the new R&D Centre in Ansfelden last summer and the new machines in the Customer Technology Center at EREMA North America at the beginning of this year, have seen us complete the largest phase of investment in our history to date. We have invested more than EUR 110 million in the expansion and modernization of our international locations over the past five years," emphasizes Horst Wolfsgruber, CFO of the EREMA Group. Another important milestone is the founding in August 2023 of the holding company BLUEONE Solutions together with the Austrian family-owned company Lindner. Incorporating Lindner Washtech means that the EREMA Group's extensive portfolio now also includes washing technology.

Developments in post consumer and PET recycling
The new DuaFil® Compact technology, which EREMA developed specifically for challenging applications with high levels of contamination and moisture, is proving successful. Since the launch at K 2022, around 20 INTAREMA® TVEplus® DuaFil® Compact systems have been sold. In the post consumer segment, ReFresher technology for the production of odour-optimised recycled pellets is also gaining ground and is now in use worldwide with a total capacity of one million tonnes per year for film and regrind applications. Another interesting new component is the DischargePro control system for the EREMA laser filter, which has been nominated for this year's Plastics Recycling Awards Europe. The discharge control system responds automatically to fluctuations in flow rate during the recycling process and reduces melt loss by up to 50 percent. With its new Fast-Track scheme, EREMA is responding to the demand for machines available at short notice at an attractive price-performance ratio.

For bottle applications, VACUREMA® systems have been proving their performance for 25 years. Over 400 EREMA PET systems for food grade are in operation worldwide, notching up a total capacity of more than 4.5 million tonnes per year. PET recycling is also becoming increasingly important in the textile industry. FibrePro:IV technology was developed especially for fibre-to-fibre recycling, which is used together with machine combinations from EREMA or PURE LOOP, who specialise in shredder-extruder technology, depending on the geometry and contamination of the PET fibre waste. For these applications, the EREMA Group has set up a fibre technical centre at its headquarters in Ansfelden.

Big potential for plastics recycling
The amount of plastic produced worldwide is currently around 400 million tonnes per year - and the figure is still rising. Around 9 percent of it is recycled globally. This represents big potential for the EREMA Group, as Manfred Hackl emphasizes.

Kunststoffrecyclingunternehmen können ab dem 1. Januar 2025 wieder Energiebeihilfen beantragen. Das teilte der bvse-Bundesverband Sekundärrohstoffe und Entsorgung in einem Mitgliederrundschreiben mit.

Nach den Erläuterungen fallen unter den förderungsfähigen Wirtschaftszweig 20.16 (Herstellung von Kunststoffen in Primärform) nun auch folgende Tätigkeiten der Kunststoffrecyclingbranche:

• Herstellung von Zellulose und ihren chemischen Derivaten,
• Herstellung von Kunstpulvern, -granulaten oder -flocken durch Compoundieren oder Umwandeln von Kunststoffharzen sowie aus wiedergewonnen Kunststoffabfällen,
• Herstellung von recyceltem Kunststoff in Flakes oder Kunststoffgranulaten auf Basis von vorbehandelten Kunststoffabfällen durch stoffliche Verwertungsverfahren.

Wie die bvse-Justiziarin Annette Reber erläuterte, hat die Klassifikation der Wirtschaftszweige neben statistischen Zwecken auch eine wichtige Bedeutung für die Bewilligung von Energiebeihilfen. Staatliche Energiebeihilfen dürfen, so Reber, nur den Unternehmen bewilligt werden, die zu den in den europäischen Leitlinien für staatliche Klima-, Umweltschutz- und Energiebeihilfen 2022 (KUEBLL) aufgeführten Wirtschaftszweigen gehören. Der Wirtschaftszweig 20.16. (Herstellung von Kunststoffen in Primärform) wird als förderungsfähig angesehen, der Wirtschaftszweig 38.31 (Rückgewinnung sortierter Werkstoffe) hingegen nicht.

On June 1, EREMA hosted the EREMA Discovery Day focusing on the post consumer segment from a European perspective. Live demonstrations showcased the latest machine innovations for PET and polyolefin recycling.

The invitation was accepted by around 400 customers and partners, mainly from Europe, to find out about the wide range of recycling technologies for PO and PET plastic waste. The technology that was presented and explained by EREMA experts and guest speakers during lectures in the morning, could then be seen live in-action in the afternoon when the recycling machines were demonstrated in operation. A total of six innovative recycling technologies were on display: INTAREMA® TVEplus® DuaFil® Compact, INTAREMA® TVEplus® RegrindPro® + ReFresher, the COREMA® cascade extrusion system, a VACUREMA® Inline Sheet line equipped with new EcoGentle technology, the new INTAREMA® FibrePro:IV machine, and the PCU-
TwinScrew. These allowed visitors to witness their performance and the high quality of recycled pellets that they produce.

"This wide range of technologies is necessary because the recycling process each of our customers choose depends on the type of plastic, the level of contamination of the input material, and which product will be made using the recycled pellets. Following the expansion of our Ansfelden site and with the new site nearby in St. Marien, we can now demonstrate all these processes, carry out test runs with customers' material and focus on development work independently of our Customer Centre," says EREMA's Managing Director Markus Huber-Lindinger.

EREMA is driving forward research and development work in the company's new R&D Centre. Two halls with a total area of 1,550 square metres and a new office building offering space for 50 workplaces has been built. Here, the company bundles cross-departmental test machines and laboratory facilities for post consumer and inhouse recycling applications. R&D is decentralised at EREMA. Employees from different departments handle process engineering challenges, innovations in mechanical engineering and automation technology - all with the aim of meeting customer requirements and achieving the highest possible quality of recycled pellets.  

On the evening before Discovery Day, EREMA celebrated its 40th anniversary together with customers and partners. A review covered the company's history - from the first workshop in a garage in 1983, to its position today as a innovation pioneer and one of the market leaders.

At the recent CAMX 2022 Composites and Advanced Materials Expo in Anaheim, California, The Heat Sealing Module – HSM from Zünd was recognized with an Unsurpassed Innovation Award. The HSM significantly facilitates the processing and handling of dry fiber materials with thermoplastic content. This new tool is Zünd’s answer to a demand in the composites industry for wider-spread use and easier processing of these types of materials.

The American Composites Manufacturing Association, ACMA, proclaimed the Heat Sealing Module – HSM the winner of the ACE Award for Unsurpassed Innovation in the “Manufacturing: Equipment and Tooling” category. This award is presented annually to equipment, tooling, a production aid, or software designed to improve manufacturing production, environmental sustainability, or product quality and performance in composites manufacturing.

During processing, dry fiber materials are prone to fraying along the edges. Using hot air, the HSM seals the fabric along the cut path in advance of the Zünd Power Rotary Tool – PRT cutting it. Because of this sealing process, the cut can then be performed at full speed, in any direction, and produces both higher-quality parts and greater production efficiencies.

The HSM helps create clean, sealed edges when cutting fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites. It benefits not only the cutting process itself, but other production processes downstream. Cutting this way leaves behind no loose or uncut fibers and maintains a clean cutting surface and uncontaminated production environment. At the same time, it ensures that cut parts maintain their shape, and this increased stability makes them much easier to handle, especially in fully automated production workflows.

More than 350 million tons of plastic are produced worldwide every year, and vast amounts of plastic waste simply end up in the environment. The circular economy offers enormous potential for keeping plastics in the loop and thus conserving resources and the environment. Since 2018, six Fraunhofer institutes in the Fraunhofer CCPE cluster have been researching how to make the plastics value chain circular, and Prof. Manfred Renner has been the new head of the cluster since August 2022. Research results, implementation projects and strategies to accelerate the transformation to a circular plastics economy will be presented by Fraunhofer CCPE at the first international Fraunhofer CCPE Summit on February 8 and 9, 2023 in Munich.

In a circular plastics economy, resources can be saved, products can be intelligently designed for long service life, and end-of-life losses can be reduced. Systemic, technical and social innovations are needed to make the transition from a linear to a circular economy a success. This is what the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Circular Plastics Economy CCPE is researching in the three divisions “Materials”, “Systems” and “Business”. The cooperation of the six Fraunhofer institutes IAP, ICT, IML, IVV, LBF and UMSICHT enables a multi-stakeholder approach in which the appropriate R&D competencies are bundled.

Fraunhofer CCPE would like to present and discuss successful projects and research approaches on an international scale at the Fraunhofer CCPE Summit on February 8 and 9, 2023 in Munich. The summit is to become an international forum for exchanging ideas for solutions and innovations for a circular plastics economy.

Cross-industry collaboration - local, regional and international
Since August 2022, Prof. Manfred Renner, Institute Director of Fraunhofer UMSICHT, is the new head of Fraunhofer CCPE. He succeeds Prof. Eckhard Weidner, who has retired. “Cross-industry cooperation - very local, but also regional and international - is the elementary prerequisite for a functioning circular plastics economy. At the summit, players from all points of the compass will meet and network in order to rethink the plastics value chain together," explains Prof. Manfred Renner, adding, “We want to provide answers to the following questions:  How can we make all Circular Economy principles, i.e. the ten R-strategies, known? How can industry, science and society best cooperate in a transformation to a circular plastics economy for the greatest possible impact?”

Results of the Fraunhofer CCPE cluster so far are innovative approaches for circular business models, intelligent collection, sorting, and recycling technologies, but also new formulations for circular polymers and compounds to enable multiple recycling cycles. With the newly developed assessment tool CRL® , companies can, for example, self-assess the maturity of products or product systems with regard to the circular economy. The tool checks the extent to which a product already takes into account circular economy principles in the areas of product design, product service system, end-of-life management and circular economy, and where there is still potential for improvement.

Geosynthetics have become an indispensable part of the construction industry. PP nonwovens, for example - mechanically bonded continuous fibres made from specially UV-stabilised polypropylenes - are often used in blanket form as barriers, screens and filters, and their strength extends the service life of construction projects. Whether for road construction, or as barrier on glaciers or against weeds - there are myriad applications.

TenCate Geosynthetics uses the PURE LOOP ISEC evo technology to recycle this type of PP nonwoven. The European 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 manufacturing used to be recycled at the Linz site, but not fed back into the company's own production process.

"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 machine 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."

Another advantage of PURE LOOP technology is the wide range of shapes in which the production scrap can be delivered for processing. "Our ifeed technology with double feed ram system and singleshaft shredder offers the ideal conditions for direct processing 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", emphasizes Patrick Wiesinger. With the ISEC evo recycling machine TenCate can now manufacture its high-strength PP nonwoven product with a recyclate content of up to 10 percent.

DOMO Chemicals, a producer of engineered polyamide materials, and Hynamics, a 100% subsidiary of EDF Group specializing in the production of low-carbon hydrogen, have entered into a partnership project with the objective of achieving zero-carbon for 100% of the hydrogen used at the Belle-Étoile industrial site, in Saint-Fons (south of Lyon, France), in the heart of the French Vallée de la Chimie (“Chemistry Valley”).

For the first time in France, the “HyDom” project will enable the installation of an 85-megawatt (MW) hydrogen production plant using the water electrolysis process at the Belle-Étoile site, with a production capacity of 11,000 metric tons of low-carbon hydrogen per year. The plant will be powered by the French low-carbon electric power mix. By 2027, it will supply 100% of the annual production of hexamethylene diamine, a key component used in the production of plastics.

The project will eventually prevent the emission of 84 kilotons of carbon dioxide (CO2) each year. Hexamethylene diamine, and ultimately, durable and low-carbon polyamides, will be used in various applications in major industry sectors, such as automotive, electronics, and heating & cooling.
This project is a major step towards the decarbonization of industrial sites that use grey hydrogen (produced from fossil fuels). The location in the Vallée de la Chimie within the vicinity of major transport routes opens up opportunities for the creation of a more complete hydrogen ecosystem.

The first phase of the project will consist of building up and ascertaining technical concepts and integrating the low-carbon hydrogen production plant within the larger production process of hexamethylene diamine.

Considering the high-power scale of the future electrolytic hydrogen production facility, the HyDom project is being developed in close collaboration with RTE (an organization in charge of managing the French power grid), to solve connection issues. As a priority project for the industry's zero-carbon strategy and for the “France 2030” investment plan, HyDom is supported by the French government and has been presented to the European Commission for public funding.

POWERFIL, a business unit of recycling machine manufacturer EREMA GmbH, presents its 2/406 laserfilter.

"For applications with a focus on melt quality and filtration fineness, this increase in screen area ensures lower pressure and temperature at the same throughput rate, allowing even finer screens to be used for even better results in quality-intensive plastics applications," explains Robert Obermayr, Head of Business Unit POWERFIL, EREMA GmbH. If the throughput capacity of the recycling plant needs to be increased, a significantly higher rate of plastic melt can be filtered while maintaining the other parameters thanks to the larger surface area of the screen. Up to 9,000 kilogrammes of melt can be filtered per hour with the Quattro version of the new LF 406 laserfilter.

"Plastic recycling has become a must-have, even for input streams with higher levels of contamination. Efficient filtration systems are therefore indispensable for achieving the specified melt quality using existing extrusion systems," says Obermayr. That is why POWERFIL also offers the proven EREMA melt filters as individual components for existing EREMA machines and third-party extrusion systems. The product range includes the SW RTF partial area backflush system and the laserfilter. The range is aimed at manufacturers as well as recyclers, because the high-performance filters can be used to process post consumer plastics as well as post industrial films with paper labels and clean PET material. Both types of filter are particularly easy to integrate into an existing recycling plant and both are available in numerous sizes and variations. Whether the customer uses the robust backflush filter or the continuous high-performance laserfilter depends on the throughput and level of contamination of the material. The Laserfilter is ideal for heavy contamination. It handles impurity levels up to 5 percent and filtration as fine as 70 μm while continuously cleaning the screen with a scraper.

POWERFIL will also present the new 2/406 laserfilter and the full range of filters at the K 2022 trade fair stand for the EREMA Group.

• DOMOs neuer Service deckt das globale Produktportfolio von Werkstoffen für den Spritzguss ab.
• DOMO Engineered Materials ermöglicht den direkten Zugriff auf die stets aktuelle Materialdatenbank für Spritzgusssimulationen, sodass Kunden jederzeit die aktuellsten, umfangreichsten und validierten TECHNYL®-Werkstoffdaten einsehen können.
• Dieser neue Service für schnellere Projektentwicklungszeiten wird am 12. Mai 2022 freigeschaltet.

Bisher mussten Anwender, die die neuesten Datenbanken für Spritzgussanwendungen von den jeweiligen Anbietern erhalten wollten, auf ein Update der Simulationssoftware warten. Von der Verfügbarkeit neuer Materialien bis zur Aktualisierung der öffentlichen Datenbanken verging beträchtliche Zeit – mitunter mehr als ein Jahr. Darüber hinaus mussten sich Anwender regelmäßig an verschiedene Kontakte wenden, um von Materialanbietern Auskünfte über die neuesten verfügbaren Ressourcen einzuholen.

DOMO ermöglicht es seinen Kunden jetzt mit regelmäßigen Aktualisierungen der Datenbank für Autodesk Moldflow einen wertvollen neuen Service zu erhalten. Auf Anfrage werden auch Spritzgussmaterialdaten für andere Softwarelösungen (Moldex3D, CADmould usw.) von unserem Sales und Technical Manager zur Verfügung gestellt.

Da Kunden so stets die neuesten Materialdaten für Spritzgusssimulationen zur Hand haben, können sie Zeit und Mühe bei der Generierung der notwendigen Daten für ihre Projekte sparen. Diese validierten Messdaten für präzisere Simulationen ermöglicht den Kunden, ihre Entwicklungszeiten zu verkürzen und Produkte schneller auf den Markt zu bringen.

Darüber hinaus umfassen diese direkten Aktualisierungen auch neue Werkstoffe aus DOMOs Entwicklungspipeline sowie neue validierte Daten, die über die gewöhnliche Vorgehensweise von Spritzgussanwendungen hinausgehen und beispielsweise die Optimierung der Vorhersage von Faserausrichtungen erlauben.

Die AVK - Industrievereinigung Verstärkte Kunststoffe e.V. bittet um Bewerbungen zum renommierten AVK Innovationspreis 2022 für den Bereich Faserverstärkte Kunststoffe (FVK) / Composites in folgenden Kategorien:

• Innovative Produkte/Bauteile bzw. Anwendungen
• Innovative Prozesse bzw. Verfahren
• Forschung und Wissenschaft

Ein Ziel des Innovationspreises ist die Förderung neuer Produkte/Bauteile bzw. Anwendungen aus faserverstärkten Kunststoffen (FVK) sowie die Förderung neuer Verfahren bzw. Prozesse zur Herstellung dieser FVK-Produkte. Ein weiterer Preis geht an Universitäten, Hochschulen und Institute für herausragende wissenschaftliche Arbeiten in Forschung und Wissenschaft. In allen Kategorien wird besonderer Wert auf das Thema „Nachhaltigkeit“ gelegt. Ein wichtiges Ziel ist es, die Innovationen sowie die dahinterstehenden Firmen/Institutionen auszuzeichnen und so die Leistungsfähigkeit der gesamten Composites-Industrie öffentlichkeitswirksam darzustellen. Bewertet werden die Einreichungen von einer hochkarätigen Jury von Experten aus dem Composites-Bereich.

Der Einsendeschluss für die Bewerbungsunterlagen ist der 1. April 2022.
Mehr Informationen finden Sie hier.

Die Preisverleihung findet im Herbst 2022 während des JEC Forum DACH in Augsburg (29.-30.11.2022) statt.