How World PET Recycling Increases Efficiency and Quality

As in many recycling processes, companies like World PET Recycling face the challenge of freeing recycled PET from contaminants to meet the strict quality requirements for food-grade material. A significant part of these contaminants are metallic foreign bodies that can enter the material during the collection, processing, and preparation of plastic waste. To tackle this challenge, World PET previously used a GF metal separator, which examined the PET flakes on the main material feed line and removed metallic contaminants. 

However, this process led to a significant rejection of PET material, as the entire contaminated fraction, including the good material, was discarded. This meant an unnecessary loss of valuable material, which impaired the company's efficiency and drove up production costs. Against this background, World PET was looking for a solution that would allow the recovery of the high-quality PET material that was discarded along with the contaminants while ensuring the metal-free quality of the final product.

The solution to this problem was offered by Iberoacero, Sesotec's partner in Portugal, with the customized installation of the RE-SORT RV 070 unit. This state-of-the-art metal separating unit was designed to inspect heavily metal-contaminated material and separate recyclable PET material from the contaminants. The RE-SORT acts as a second filtering system and complements the already installed GF metal separator by rechecking the reject fraction of the first separation.

The process works as follows: The material is fed into the RE-SORT unit via a hopper into the vibrating chute, where it is separated. It then passes through two key components of the system: the EXTRACTOR magnet system and the RAPID VARIO-FS metal separator. Together, these technologies ensure that both magnetic and non-magnetic metal foreign bodies are reliably removed. This ensures that only pure, metal-free PET material remains for further processing, while any contaminants are sorted out. A crucial advantage of the RE-SORT unit is its high sensitivity, which allows it to detect and remove even the smallest metal particles of less than 1 mm in size. This ensures compliance with the strict quality requirements for food-grade rPET while minimizing the loss of high-quality material.

Thanks to the installation of the RE-SORT system, World PET Recycling was able to significantly reduce material loss. The solution efficiently and precisely separates metal contaminants and enables the recovery of recyclable PET material. This leads to increased profitability, as less material needs to be disposed of while ensuring product quality through metal-free products. Additionally, the reuse of the material not only conserves resources but also protects the environment by reducing waste. Through the solution from Sesotec and the support of Iberoacero, World PET Recycling was able to significantly reduce material loss in production and improve the quality of their recycled PET products. The RE-SORT RV 070 unit has proven to be an indispensable part of the production process, bringing not only economic benefits but also contributing to the sustainability and environmental friendliness of the company.