The recycling company INVEMA (www.invemagroup.com) commissioned a plant for the recycling of PET bottles in Honduras at the end of 2016 in order to produce bottle-to-bottle quality with FDA approval. In the first expansion stage the plant is processing 2000 t/month.
Fig. 1: In Honduras the collection rate of PET bottles amounts to 84 %. 2000 t PET bottles per month are treated with the plant technology from Herbold Meckesheim.
In a multi-stage process, the bottles are pre-sorted, size-reduced, washed cold and hot and after drying forwarded to a flake sorting step. The German machine manufacturer HERBOLD MECKESHEIM produced, installed and commissioned the plant.
Fig. 2: After sorting, the PET bottles are size reduced in two Herbold granulators with a capacity of 1800 kg/h.
After regranulation the end product is sold to the local Coca Cola bottle producer. A second expansion step is in preparation. Its aim is to produce thermoforming PET film suitable for use in foodstuffs.
Honduras already has a recycling rate of 84 %, nevertheless, bottles have to be imported in order to use the plant to full capacity.
The owner of INVEMA, George Gatlin, states in an interview: “Coca Cola is enthusiastic about the quality of the regranulate that we produce.”
Fig. 3: The hot washing plant for PET bottle flakes from Herbold Meckesheim guarantees high-quality regranulate at INVEMA.
INVEMA Group has 370 employees in Honduras and further 100 in El Salvador. They see to the collection, reception, sorting and treatment of the bottles.
In a second step a plant was installed for treating the polyolefine fraction from the recycling process, i.e. the caps and labels of the bottles.
Fig. 4: Secondary cleaning of the PO fraction during the hydrocyclone separation step from Herbold Meckesheim.
Part of the energy needed for the recycling plants is produced on site: with 3.640 solar panels on the roofs of the plant location they are generating 1 MW electrical power.
Engineering, Manufacture, Supply:
Herbold Meckesheim GmbH
Industriestr. 33
D-74909 Meckesheim
Germany
Tel.: +49/6226/932-0 Fax: +49/6226/932-495
herbold@herbold.com,
www.herbold.com
