Blueone Solutions focuses on data transfer between extruders and washing systems

Last year, Lindner Recyclingtech GmbH and Erema Group, both headquartered in Austria, formed Blueone Solutions, a holding company designed to leverage both companies’ expertise and jointly execute research projects to create industry standards in plastics recycling.

Blueone Solutions combines Erema’s experience in manufacturing extruders and filtration solutions for plastics recycling with Lindner Washtech, a leading provider of all-in-one solutions for shredding, sorting and washing plastic infeed materials. At this year’s IFAT in Munich, representative from the founding companies reported on the progress Blueone Solutions has made in standardizing process control.

"Together, we have developed a platform that allows data to be exchanged between the extruder and the washing system," Erema Group CEO Manfred Hackl says. "This enables us to analyze the data more precisely so that effective improvement measures can be deduced."

All key parameters are accounted for and monitored via a digital interface, with Blueone saying it is possible to use information relating to the current throughput of the Erema Pre Conditioning Unit to optimize the washing process as soon as possible so that it can compensate for fluctuations in capacity and achieve a significant increase in output.

"To ensure sustainable recycling, it is necessary to find the right process for each application and to make sure that the individual process steps are perfectly coordinated," Lindner Managing Director Michael Lackner says.

Coordinating the process steps has achieved initial success in energy management, particularly in the area of heat recovery. "We use the latent heat generated during the extrusion process as an energy source for the washing and drying process," Lackner says. "This enables our customers to sustainably reduce their energy costs and carbon emissions".

Hackl and Lackner say improving the end product and increasing the overall efficiency of the recycling process are Blueone’s objectives, which is only possible if companies work together along the value chain.

They say they can point to several examples where Lindner and Erema have worked together to improve recycling processes and made it possible to move away from downcycling.

"An example of this is the recycling loop of HDPE [high-density polyethylene] starting material, which is processed into high-quality, food-safe rHDPE pellets using our two technologies," Lackner says.

Blueone offers companies from the waste and recycling industry an additional service to improve the end-to-end process. "We want to encourage our customers to come to us with their feed material so that we can discuss the options that are open to them. With the combined expertise of Lindner Washtech and Erema, we can find the optimum solution for every scenario," Hackl says.