Cronopet S.A. has been placing its trust in EREMA for 18 years. The plastics recycler from Argentina has an RGA 80 TE and a new EREMA 1108 TE in operation for the processing of polyester resin, fibre scraps and PET production scraps to make high-grade recycled pellets from them for use in the textile industry.

The challenge posed by Cronopet‘s application lies above all in the high and fluctuating moisture (emulsion) of the PET input materials. In addition to the hygroscopic characteristic of polyester, the processing additives, spinning oils, etc. contained in the fibre materials are a hurdle for every recycling process. The EREMA 1108 TE system which used to be in the EREMA Customer Centre and was sold with the launch of the INTAREMA^® generation at the beginning of 2014 is ideal for this particular customer application. PET fibres, agglomerates and bottle flakes rank among the “difficult ones” in plastics recycling due to their extreme differences in density and their bridging tendency. Luis Matas, owner of Cronopet, is not perturbed by this, thanks to the EREMA technology: “The EREMA cutter/compactor system handles all of this perfectly. When we launched this application back in 1996 we were able to achieve the necessary results only with EREMA.” The EREMA cutter/compactor-extruder combination handles moisture levels of up to 12 per cent – depending on the modular configuration – in continuous operation. There is perfect homogenisation in the same working step and the necessary compacting of the bulk weight is ensured. The dry PET mixture is optimally preconditioned at a polymer temperature over 100°C upstream of the extruder intake so that subsequent processing is very gentle on the material.

Two plants, one operator
When investing in the second plant – the EREMA 1108 TE – Cronopet had one prime objective: to save labour in the production process. Ideally it should be possible to use the two systems, which stand parallel next to each other in the building, with just a single operator. EREMA’s project engineering team was able to fulfil the customer‘s wish flexibly and at short notice: the operator‘s touch screen on the existing 1108 TE demonstration facility was relocated to the rear of the machine and the configuration of the SW RTF melt filter was changed from right to left. “EREMA‘s flexibility helps us on a daily basis to save labour and therefore production costs,” says a delighted Luis Matas.

Satisfied customers
With a capacity of 600 kg/h and 24/7 operation Cronopet produces high-quality recycled pellets for large plastics processors such as Mafissa and Poliresinas San Luis.