Swiss industrial engineering firm Sulzer Chemtech is highlighting its sustainable plastics technologies during the Interplastica 2020 event in Moscow, the company has announced.
Sulzer, which specialises in separation and mixing technology, said it would showcase solutions which address the entire value chain, from raw material selection to end-of-life activities.
These include the company’s solutions for the production of polylactic acid (PLA)-based plastics from renewable sources such as sugar cane, sugar beet, wheat or maize crops.
Sulzer said it will highlight its PLAnet alliance with Futerro and TechnipFMC, which offers a one-stop shop delivering integrated sugar-to-PLA solutions to interested customers.
In addition, the Swiss company will present its Sulzer Mixing Reactors (SMR) which are designed for “high-quality and efficient polymerisation”.
The SMR is a tube bundle heat exchanger that allows high-effective cooling or heating of viscous media, and combines effective mixing with controlled heat transfer.
Sulzer’s downstream technology for PLA and other polymers, such as polystyrene, polyester and polypropylene will also be on display.
These include the company’s “highly efficient” foam extrusion lines for the production of expanded polystyrene (EPS) and expanded polypropylene (EPP) of low-density, expanding or expanded foam sheets and boards of various shapes.
The company stand will feature a compact aixfotec twin-screw extruder, whose design allows manufacturers to move towards the sustainable continuous processing, by eliminating heating and cooling cycles, and thus reducing energy consumption significantly.
Sulzer will also present recycling solutions including devolatilisation (devo) technology for solvent-based recycling of plastics and selective polymer extraction.
The system combines multi-tube heat exchangers featuring static mixing elements with vacuum flash vessels to deliver high-quality recycled polymers with residual solvent contents in the order of ppm.
The technology, according to Sulzer can support the recovery of plastic that is currently non-recyclable.
Demo turnkey solutions and plants for the plastic processing industry in real life scale will be on display at the show.
To be held 28-31 Jan in Moscow, Interplastica 2020 is one of the largest trade shows on plastic and rubber in Russia and is expected to host 680 exhibitors from all over the world. Recycling solutions and other innovative systems aimed at reducing the environmental impact of plastics will be the main focus of the fair.
Sulzer to display sustainable solutions at Interplastica 2020
