Amut line for the efficient PET recycling in the US

The recycling division of Amut has started up a new Mini PRF recycling facility at Wellmann (South Carolina), with sorting and pre-washing system to process PET containers at an output rate of 6-7 ton/h.
The main feature of this plant is an elliptical ballistic separator that has the function to mechanically select the bottles stream after the bale breakers and eliminate small-size particles and 2D contaminants such as carton board, paper and packaging films. The de-labeller and pre-wash system then prepares the bottles for the following NIR sorters. This step notably improves efficiency over optical selection, benefitting the overall system performance.
According to the Novara-based manufacturer, the contamination of the material at the inlet of the washing lines was about 20-25% some years ago, today it is more than 40%. Some of the key reasons for this are: the growing diffusion of PET as material also for liquids other than beverages; the new conservation and protection techniques for beverages and food, which often clash with recycling needs; the low efficiency of various selection plants, which are not suitable for the new and more challenging stream quality for technical or economic reasons; avoid rejecting good PET only because it is contaminated with sleeve labels or other packaging components.
The new technology at Wellmann overcomes the lower quality of the bales and improves both efficiency and performance of PET recycling processes. The Mini PRF system includes a pre-selection of the bales to eliminate all of the contaminant materials in dry phase and have just the clean bottle stream go through the sorting and pre-washing equipment, without those foreign materials that create inefficiency, more scraps volume for disposal and higher maintenance costs.