Norwegian Firm Invested in New Technology to Reuse PVC Leftovers
An investment of 1.2 million euros in an upgraded recycling facility to handle PVC production leftovers paid for itself in 18 months at Protan Group, a Norway-based manufacturer of roofing foils and ventilation tubes for tunnels and mines.
According to German size-reduction technology supplier Pallmann, the investment realized cost savings and increased capacity.
In the new facility, grinding is undertaken by Pallmann’s knife mill-type PS 4-7,5; agglomeration is carried out in a Plast agglomerator PFV 250; and a PolyGrinder PM 300 unit takes care of the pulverizing. The machines are connected via conveying units, silos and collection units. The German company supplied and commissioned the entire package of components. It is in its roofing products that Protan uses most of its recycled materials. On average, it incorporates six percent recyclate in its production process, most of which is sourced in-house. Owing to their complexity, it is difficult to dispose of or use these materials in other applications. However, the materials are of high value, making internal reuse worthwhile.
The company started recycling two decades ago and Pallmann’s engineers have been involved from the beginning. The size-reduction technology major installed was a reconditioned PFV agglomerator in 2000. But over the years, this solution has become outdated – new products required new particle sizes, which could not be produced with the old technology.
Photo: Pallmann
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