The system is an advanced development in the process technology of the well-proven IRD InfraredRotary Drum used in hundreds of industrial applications. The standard process of crystallization anddrying of PET Post Consumer Bottle Flakes in the IRD has been refined by various changes in theprocess parameters and technical modifications – this has resulted in outstandingly gooddecontamination results which have been proven in tests in collaboration with the FraunhoferInstitute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV. The Food + Drug Administration FDA has issueda Letter of Non-Objection on the basis of these values. These results can also be used for the limits, fixed on behalf of the European Food Safety Authority EFSA – depending on the use of the end product up to 100% of Post-Consumer material.
The key to these good results lies in the general functional principle of the Infrared Rotary Drum – the low mass in the process and the continuous movement of the material ensures a continuous surfaceexchange of the recycling material to be treated. Combined with the direct heat input from theInfrared light, which generates high temperatures within a few minutes, the IR-CLEAN® concept needsno expensive and high-maintenance vacuum systems. IR-CLEAN® combined with a downstreamFinisher, that takes the form of a desiccant air drier, giving drying values of <50ppm. The IR-CLEAN®system achieves the FDA / EFSA values already upstream of the extruder, facilitating easy retrofittingand, thus, an FDA / EFSA approval of existing single-screw, twin-screw or multi-screw extrusionsystems. The package, developed by KREYENBORG comprises not only the conveying technology, butalso complete process monitoring and documentation of the process parameters.
