Kreyenborg system tackles tough odors

IR-Fresh Kreyenborg’s modular IR-Fresh system can be retrofitted to existing extrusion lines to remove unwanted odors from post-consumer plastic flakes and pellets. It is appropriate for treating a wide variety of resins, including PP, HDPE, LDPE, TPEs, PS and polyamide. The system is effective at eliminating smells left by food, cleaning agents, cosmetics, chemicals and fuel. It can be used to treat plastic flakes before they enter an extruder for processing and pelletizing or can be set up after the pelletizing step to treat finished pellets. In the U.S., IR-Fresh is distributed by eFactor3.  

What’s new? The IR-Fresh system, which employs a two-step process. In the first step, it constantly rotates the plastic in a drum while heating it via an infrared light module. In the second step, any remaining odors are eliminated using heat and air flow in the IR-Fresh conditioner. In addition to being retrofittable to extrusion lines, IR-Fresh also can operate as a continuous or discontinuous standalone process.   

Benefits High-quality recycled pellets and flakes. The system uniformly treats materials to safely and efficiently remove odors that can’t be eliminated by washing alone. It requires no vacuum and protects polymer properties with short residence times. The company says that gas chromatographic analyses confirm a significant reduction in the presence of volatile organic compounds after the IR-Fresh process. Additionally, recovered heat from the air exhaust in the first step is applied to the second step for energy-efficient operation. 

EFactor3, Charlotte, N.C., 704-944-3232, www.efactor3.com, www.kreyenborg.com