Innovation in deinking technology

Sorema, the recycling systems division of Previero, announces the achievement of quality and quantity targets for the printed film washing plant installed at Coveris – ReCover in Lincolnshire (United Kingdom), equipped with deinking technology.

“The international market has long been asking for a solution to recycle the increasingly important fractions of films used in consumer packaging, the challenge being the printed fraction. More than ten years ago, Sorema started a series of industrial tests to understand the mechanism of ink removal and to design machines for this technology. With Sortology, we found the right partner to complete the process with chemical cleaners. Together we developed and patented a system that removes ink from the surface of printed films. Together, we had the opportunity to design and install a production facility where all films are de-inked to a quality level where a high percentage can be reused in their original packaging. The technology is already used for PE films and Sorema has successfully tested it on other polymer substrates", Dario Previero, manager of Sorema, stated describing the new plant.

"From a technical point of view, the deinking system has two key components: the batch reactor in which the deinking is performed and the water filtration system required to minimize water and chemical consumption. The ink industry has thousands of different formulations, pigments, primers and substrates, so the batch reactor is by far the best solution because it allows perfect control of time, friction and chemical concentration. To support new projects, we have installed a 1:1 scale deinking line in our laboratory for test validation, which has generated great interest in the packaging market. Sorema is already looking to the future by developing solutions for post-consumer films and highly contaminated packaging in the food industry. Another challenge for our technical center, which is of great interest to the market, is the combination of the deinking process with our delamination technology, which is also at the patent stage”, Dario Previero added.

The plant supplied to Coveris – ReCover represents a pioneering joint project in which the deinking solution removes ink from heavily printed LDPE films, enabling them to be reprocessed into high quality recycled raw material for use in high performance film extrusion and packaging for major brands. In particular, the Sorema plant has a production capacity of up to 1,000 kg/h for films and up to 1,500 kg/h for rigid packaging. Thanks to the flexibility of the line, the chemical formulations developed can clean the most difficult ink systems and can be lowered to 30-50% of the original design parameters to reduce process costs.