Pelletizing and Spinning

PELLETIZING SYSTEM
After being pre-dried, the r-PET flakes will be dried once again in a rotating drum vacuum
oven set at 150–160˚C for 5 hours to reduce the percentage of moisture thereby preventing
PET hydrolysis at high temperature. Then the dried flakes are forwarded to a special extruder
with a melt filter. This device is twin screw extruder operating at 1350 to 1450 rpm. The screws
are 200 mm in diameter. The extruder includes three gas-venting sections; the two upstream
provided each with a liquid circulating pump and the third section with a Roots pump. As it
travels through the extruder, the mass of PET is heated to 290˚C. The mass is also
simultaneously stripped by the homogeneously distributed injection of steam. As the granulate
leaves the extruder, it will be subjected to solid recondensation and stripping to increase its
viscosity. This procedure is a pre-requisite for blowing new bottles from the mass, which can be
done only within a narrow range of Viscosity. The pellets will be processed in a tumble drier.
The mass is blended in the drier for a prescribed duration, particularly 10 to 12 hours. The
advantage of this batch-by-batch system is that bottles from various manufacturers and
accordingly of varying viscosity can be recycled. The long-lasting mixing ensures that the
viscosity of the flakes can be adjusted to a prescribed level. Batch-wise recondensation of the
solids is economically justified by the scale of the System. The drum will have a capacity of 44
m3. The material is will be recondensed at 220 to 240˚C, temperatures which is sufficiently
remote from the pellet's melting point. The drum will rotate slowly, at 2 rpm, and will be
pressurized to 0.1-0.01 mbar. Separation by melt filtration at temperature of 204˚C, which is
below the melting point of PET will follow and thereby allows PET and other solid contaminants
to be filtered out, through continuous screen changing equipment in a range of 35-60 µm.
MELT-SPINNING SECTION
Melt spinning will be performed at extrusion temperature of 290˚C with a spinneret. Due
to the high intrinsic viscosity of r-PET and poor flow uniformity, the spinning temperature of r-
PET should be higher than that of the original PET but not too high to cause thermal
degradation of polymer, resulting in a large number of floating and air bubble fibers and
formation of acetaldehyde. Table 1 shows the minimum requirements to for post-consumer
PET bottles to be recycled. The spinneret plate will be having 48 holes, each with a diameter of
0.3 mm. At present, r-PET chips are mainly produced from oil bottles, mineral water bottles and
Coca-Cola bottles, which contain many impurities (PVC, PP, PE, metals, etc.) because of
recycling pathways, manufacturing procedures and sources of raw materials. These impurities
easily cause blockages of the spinneret pores. Accordingly, the pore diameter of the spinneret
plate directly influences the smooth running of the spinning process and the optimum diameter
of the spinneret pores is determined to be 0.3 mm. The extruded fine streams will be air-
cooled, and fibers will be formed at a spinning speed of 3000 m/min. In view of output and
spinnability, many spinning speeds are tested in the range of 2800 m/min to 3300 m/min. At a
spinning speed of 3000 m/min, the spinning process can be carried out smoothly and good
bobbin winding can be achieved. With an increase in spinning speed, especially at around 3300
m/min, frequent breakages occur. That is why the spinning speed is optimized to 3000 m/min.
Table 1. Minimum Requirements for Post-Consumer PET Bottles to be recycled
PROPERTY VALUE
Intrinsic Viscosity, [η] >0.7 dl/g
Melting Temperature, Tm >240˚C
Water Content <0.02 wt.%
Flake Size 0.4 mm < D < 8mm
Dye Content <10 ppm
Yellowing Index <20
Metal Content <3 ppm
PVC Content <50 ppm
Polyolefin Content <10 ppm
REFERENCES
Awaja, F., Pavel, D. (March 2005). Recycling of PET. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/
science/article/pii/S0014305705000728
Fredl, R. (2002). United States Patent No. US 6436322 B1. Retrieved from
https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/a6/c8/cf/7b8ee49a3b4e2c/US6436322
.pdf
Jiang, Z., et al. (2018). Preparation and properties of bottle-recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
filaments. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/004051
7518767146 ?journalCode=trjc
Sadat-Shojai, M., & Bakhshandeh, G.-R. (2011). Recycling of PVC wastes. Polymer Degradation and
Stability, 96(4), 404–415. doi:10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2010.12.001

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PELLETIZING SYSTEM

Table 1. Minimum Requirements for Post-Consumer PET Bottles to be recycled

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