Neo Group supports circular economy with recycled PET flake integration tech
24 May 2021 --- NEO GROUP has shared insights on its now commercially available solution for integrating 15 percent recycled PET (rPET) flakes directly into virgin PET, allowing for just one product to be used by converters (rather than both virgin and rPET) and without requiring investments in existing production processes.
Where innovation meets reality can be a sticking point for the creators of new packaging solutions. While lab testing may yield certain results, large-scale results may differ, taking the project back to square one.
For future-focused packaging solutions, appealing ideas need to be proven at high volumes if the industry is to achieve a viable solution to the long-term challenge of creating environmentally sustainable and convenient packaging.
Championing the circular economy
There is no shortage of innovative packaging alternatives to single-use virgin plastic, from biomaterials to compostable packaging, not to mention the reusable containers that require more natural resources and are sometimes unproven in terms of how many times they can actually be reused.
Until consumers can reliably do precisely what is needed to make those alternatives plausible, such as only putting their compostable packaging in with compostable waste, as opposed to in with the rest of their recycling when it will potentially contaminate the whole batch, the industry must innovate within the true limitations of consumer behavior.
Much like “cuccina povera” – the so-called “pauper’s cooking” from Italy that has given us famously delicious dishes because of creativity through necessity – the loudest voices in the packaging value chain agree the most effective solution is the joined-up thinking of an effective circular economy.
Initially instigated by the European Union’s Horizon 2020, this research and innovation program is providing €80 billion (US$97 billion) in funding over seven years (2014-2020) to “secure Europe’s global competitiveness” by “taking great ideas from the lab to the market.”
Lithuania-based producer of plastic intermediate materials NEO GROUP has launched a viable circular solution.
NEO GROUP’s tech integrates 15% rPET directly into virgin PET, allowing converters to choose just one resin.
“Gentle glycolysis” advanced recycling
NEO GROUP has released the details of its commercially available solution that integrates 15 percent rPET directly into its virgin PET, allowing for just one product to be used by converters without investments in existing production.
Called NEOPET CYCLE – the PET resin containing 15 percent recycled PET – has been created using a type of advanced recycling it describes as “gentle glycolysis,” with the resulting food-grade resin available at high industrial volumes.
Increasing this percentage to 25 percent is expected during Q2 2021, keeping NEO GROUP’s offer well within the current legislation and delivering continued reliability to global customers.
Kęstutis Narmontas, research and technology manager at NEO GROUP, explains how the company has managed to achieve “bringing back the monomers for the production of PET resin” in NEOPET CYCLE by harnessing its decade-long experience in glycolysis processing.
“We have been focused on positively contributing to closing the loop for some time and, as a producer of PET in pellets form, we knew that we could add real value to the overall plastic packaging supply chain if we could develop a reliable rPET solution.”
“In early 2018, we started seriously talking about the implications of the EU SUP Directive, where 25 percent of recycled plastic must be present in all PET beverage bottles by 2025, and this was closely connected to our research work in accordance with the Horizon 2020 program.”
“We were actively checking what solutions were available on the market, and we realized our unique contribution could be to add a reliable percentage of rPET directly into the resins we produce, allowing converters to use their existing equipment without investing and meet the changing regulations.”
Reliable rPET at industrial volumes
The process of developing NEOPET CYCLE saw NEO GROUP’s R&D team working to analyze how an advanced depolymerization process using feedstock from post-consumer PET collections under strictly controlled conditions could be conducted via glycolysis.
Petras Žutautas, the company’s research and experimental development manager, explains: “We decided on this glycolysis process because we have over ten years in-house experience thanks to our well-known aromatic polyester polyols, which are sold under the name NeoPolyol.”
“Taking what we know from over a decade of glycolysis knowledge, we have been able to create a fully integrated process of adding rPET flakes directly into the polymerization stage of the virgin resin material, without affecting food approvals from the FDA and EU for the final product.”
NEO GROUP’s capacity stands at 160 kt annually, with plans to increase the rPET ratio to 25%.
Strictly controlled testing
The strictly controlled testing carried out on NEOPET CYCLE was partly thanks to the quality team at RETAL Lithuania, also part of RETAL Industries, alongside sister company NEO GROUP, who added its specific knowledge of creating complete packaging solutions to global food and beverage brands to support the project.
Janas Maculskis, RETAL production director for the EU and US, explains: “We have a long history of working closely with the NEO GROUP team, so we could ask lots of questions and get right to the crucial issue of being able to reliably produce plastic preforms with a consistent rPET level.”
“We looked at our portfolio to establish exactly how the potential new raw material could best be utilized. We knew we needed 25 percent rPET to guarantee our customers the solutions they want. So, we challenged NEO GROUP to go beyond the 15 percent and, as always, they rose to the challenge and created NEOPET CYCLE. I often say to my team, ‘we must find a way,’ and I’m pleased to say that NEO GROUP works to the same high standards we expect from ourselves.”
Industrial-scale capacity
With the industrial-scale production capacity, NEOPET CYCLE allows converters to consistently choose 25 percent rPET without needing to change process as the spherical shape is the same as virgin material, and with only one material for easier flow management.
Current capacity stands at 160 kt annually, with plans to increase the percentage ratio of rPET to virgin PET in the near future, offering a reliable 25 percent of rPET in NEOPET CYCLE, up from 15 percent.
“We know that it is possible to have greater volumes of rPET already in experimental production, but the issue is with the reliability of affordable supply and consistency at industrial volumes,” adds Žutautas.
“NEOPET CYCLE currently guarantees 25 percent rPET integrated with the virgin material, aiming to increase that percentage to 30 percent in accordance with the EU SUP Directive, while maintaining the reliable, consistent and affordable supply that we have positively established in industrial volumes suitable for responsible global brand owners,” he concludes.
By Emma-Jane Batey
