K Fair 2022: Saperatec to showcase multilayer delamination recycling for composite materials
12 Jul 2022 --- Saperatec will highlight a “groundbreaking” multilayer delamination approach at K Fair 2022, taking place October 19-26 in Düsseldorf, Germany. At the trade show, it will demonstrate the extended mechanical recycling process for thin-layer composite materials made of plastic, metal, paper and glass.
Meanwhile, the company is building its first composite packaging recycling plant in Dessau, Germany. In 2023, the facility will commence commercial operations with an initial goal of processing about 18,000 metric tons of packaging waste per year.
As evidenced by demonstrations, Saperatec’s novel approach results in recycled materials that can replace virgin raw materials in numerous applications, including film or foil-based packaging.
The company highlights that the process adds no contaminants to recycled polymers. Also, all chemicals used in the process comply with EU food contact regulations.
Reintegrating the packaging stream
Saperatec’s composite packaging recycling capabilities bring the potential to separate and reintegrate a wide variety of substrates into the packaging stream.
The company highlights that the process adds no contaminants to recycled polymers.The company will focus on composite flexible packaging materials, tube packaging with aluminum foil barriers, and plastics and aluminum from beverage cartons.
Beyond that, the company asserts its technology opens the door for future recyclability solutions in a wide range of composite packaging and other materials combining plastics with metal, glass and paper.
Outside the packaging realm, possibilities include improved recycling for glass-polymer composites such as car glass and metal-polymer items like certain pipes and panels.
“After years of extensive research and thorough testing, we are constructing our first industrial-scale recycling plant, which will commence operations next year,” says Thorsten Hornung, CEO of Saperatec.
“Our goal is to have a lasting impact on the circularity of composite packaging materials, which have proven notoriously challenging to separate and repurpose.”
A lasting circularity impact
The hot-wash separation fluids utilized are water-based and solvent-free and reused more than 30 times in the process. All materials employed during packaging recycling are listed for food contact materials without a specific migration limit, as per European regulations.
Saperatec’s delamination technology has been extensively tested in material science labs and near-industrial pilot environments. The “highly encouraging” results are the impetus for the plant’s construction and significant investments from several leading venture capital investors.
The developer of recycling processes for composite packaging comprised of various materials, engineers will discuss the promising new technology’s virgin-similar recyclate results – and showcase prototypes – at Hall 9, Stand D17, a booth shared with machinery manufacturer Pla.to.
Edited
By Natalie Schwertheim
