Processing playground

Equipment company Vecoplan AG, headquartered in Bad Marienberg, Germany, recently opened a new, 1,600 square metre Technology Centre at the company’s headquarters. The standalone building is filled with Vecoplan equipment as well as other processing, sorting and conveying equipment, along with laboratories and a research center for Vecoplan customers and prospective customers.

The company says this is a first-of-its-kind facility where processors can conduct comprehensive tests on their specific materials across customised systems that incorporate all the necessary technologies.

The facility is filled with some 25 pieces of full-size equipment designed to represent a comprehensive range of mechanical technologies for processing, recycling and repurposing of scrap and biomass materials. With the opening of the centre, Vecoplan says, the company now covers an entire value chain of processes in-house, thereby accelerating research and development time and allowing for efficient test times.

The company held a grand opening event in August of 2014, which was attended by 350 industrial, political and media leaders from the international environmental industry.

The event was also attended by Eveline Lemke, Minister of Economic Affairs of the State of Rhineland-Palatine.

“This Technology Centre proves that Vecoplan is one of the most innovative companies in its industry,” Lemke commented.

The Ministry of Economy also announced the establishment of a Green Technology Network in the spring of 2015. According to Vecoplan, the network will link leading green technology companies in the Rhineland-Palatine region of Germany with regional, national and international economic and scientific entities.

“The purpose of the network is to encourage innovation, align the industry internationally and ensure that the Rhineland-Palatine will continue to be the leading location for Green Technology,” Lemke said.

Vecoplan says the new Technology Centre will serve as a cornerstone in the Green Technology Network.

Recyclers in attendance at the grand opening said they were pleased to see the variety of technologies installed in the centre.

“I’m impressed by Vecoplan’s new Technology Centre, and the ability to do real-world testing on my material is what interests me the most,” said Enrico Siewert, president of Re-Poly, a U.S.-based plastics recycling company headquartered in St. Louis. “I’ve already scheduled a test at the facility.”

Another guest commented, “I’ve toured many machinery manufacturers’ facilities that touted their ability to test and process material across multiple platforms, but the range of different machines and technologies in Vecoplan’s facility is the broadest I’ve seen.”

Machines operating in the Technology Centre include size reduction: shredders, chippers and granulators; conveying systems: belt, screw, drag-chain and diverting; screening: waste, oscillating and vibratory; magnetic separation: over-belt, drum and rare earth; nonferrous separation: eddy current units; air separation; optical sorting; a plastics washing line; dust collection and a super-sack filling station.

The machines can process a variety of materials, including plastics, paper and mixed streams. The site also includes two laboratories and a conference room adjacent to the machinery processing area. The labs allow for evaluation of physical and chemical properties of materials, both prior to and after processing through the facility’s equipment. This enables customers to immediately determine the success of a particular test, the company says. The conference room overlooks the machinery processing area, providing customers and Vecoplan personnel a break from testing while maintaining involvement in the process, Vecoplan says.

The company says a significant investment of resources went into the facility, which the company also intends to serve as an innovation hub for the recycling and waste industries.

“Vecoplan continues to make significant advances in process engineering, material classification, sorting innovations and washing technologies, to once again raise the bar in our industry,” said Werner Berens, CEO of Vecoplan AG.

Vecoplan says the machinery systems’ processing area, combined with the laboratories and conference room comprise the ideal environment for innovative thinking.

“Working with our customers and evaluating tests conducted in our Technology Centre, Vecoplan can customise individual machines and tailor entire systems to meet or exceed the needs of specific processors,” said Stefan Kaiser, head of the Recycling Business Unit for Vecoplan AG.

Customers who would like more information about Vecoplan’s Technology Centre can visit the company’s websites at www.Vecoplan.com and www.VecoplanLLC.com.