By Ron Shinn
A great many research and development dollars are going into advanced recycling, but a partnership between Lindner and Procter & Gamble Co. still sees value in pushing mechanical recycling forward.
The two companies unveiled Flexloop at K 2025, a process that cleans impurities and odors from post-consumer PE film by washing flakes with a solvent. Advanced recycling techniques melt the polymer, then reconstitute it to remove impurities, but Flexloop uses solvent at ambient pressure to reach inside the flake to clean the material.
Flexloop produces material that can be used again in food, pharmaceutical or other high-value applications.
A Flexloop module can be integrated into existing Lindner wash lines, the company said.
Procter & Gamble invented the process as part of its effort to use only recycled or reusable packaging by 2030. At the K show three years ago, it began talks that led to Austrian firm Lindner-Recyclingtech GmbH licensing the technology to develop commercial machinery for recyclers.
“This is plastic-to-plastic recycling,” said a P&G official at a news conference. “We’re not breaking molecules. “We are using a solvent to reach into the plastic film and pull out something that might be not just on the surface but inside.”
A Lindner executive said the technology is important because recyclers can implement it as an extension of their current water-based wash lines. It can be located after conventional washing lines but before the flakes are extruded.
In this configuration, non-intentionally added substances (NIAS), such as pesticides, phthalates, dioxins and organic residues, are extracted and washed away along with odors, adhesives and printing inks.
Linder is already well-known for its water-based resin washing systems.
“The capital expenditure and operating expenses, compared to chemical recycling, are low,” said Gian De Belder, technical director of packaging at P&G. “The beauty of the technology is that target users are the mechanical recyclers who have an interest in upgrading the quality of their recycled resin.”
The Lindner executive described Flexloop as the next logical step in high-quality mechanical recycling. He admitted that Flexloop adds cost, so the material it produces will most likely be used in higher-quality applications. No cost estimates have been given.
Flexloop prototypes have proved successful, according to Lindner, and work is now underway to build commercial equipment. During tests to determine Flexloop’s success in removing various NIAS, it removed 99.8 percent of toluene, 99.8 percent of benzophenone and 99.7 percent of methyl stearate.
Contact:
Lindner Recyclingtech America LLC, Statesville, N.C., 800-235-1391, www.l-rt.com
