Ohio Baler Marketing RUNI Compactor in the U.S.

Ohio Baler, a distributor of a wide range of equipment for the recycling and solid waste industry, is marketing a system from the Danish company RUNI Danish Engineering that targets companies needing to deliquify material before processing the material into a recyclable product.

The RUNI screw compactor can press water out of polyethylene (PE) film after the washing process and increase the dry matter from between 60-90 percent using only 24 kilowatts for 1,000 kilograms of PE film. This step ultimately saves energy and wear and tear on the overall drying process, according to RUNI.

RUNI SK370 drying PE film at FOLLDAL in Norway

“In many cases, we reach between 5- 10 percent residual humidity even with the challenging cling film,” says Torben Dysager, managing director for RUNI. “The savings compared to using a centrifuge, an agglomerator or thermic drying often results in a payback on the RUNI in less than a year.”

In Europe, where the product has been marketed extensively, the plastics recycler Folldal Gjenvinning, based in Norway, says that it saves between 100- 150 kilowatts per hour per production line by pre-drying washed plastic film in a RUNI Screw Compactor.

“We use RUNI in our washing systems on all three – soon four – production lines. It was a solution we came to very early, developed in an excellent partnership with RUNI. The screw compactor is used for pre-drying prior to the tumble dryer. The advantage is that we can press out a lot more water before drying and achieve a very low residual humidity of between 10- 15 percent so we don’t need large energy-hungry drying machines. In this way, I would estimate that we save between 100-150 kW/ hour per line and at the same time we avoid heavier machinery,” says Frode Brendryen with Folldal Gjenvinning.

In another environment, a British company, Premier Patterns and Castings Ltd., which produces expanded polystyrene (EPS) patterns and molds, added an RUNI SK 120 screw compactor as a way to reduce the amount of material it was disposing of.

"We used to be able to fill a waste container of 16 cubic yard three times a week, which cost £60 (US$91)a time to empty, so we spent over £720 (US$1,000) a month just on emptying. Now, it takes three months to fill a container, and we can even sell the compacted EPS at £80 per ton. That's a major saving, and the investment in the machine is paid back within 12 months," explains Richard Irwin from Premier Patterns.

"It's a simple but good idea. It's uncomplicated and easy to operate, works very smoothly without any problems, even though it runs for at least 6 hours in a 10 hour working day. We are very satisfied with the machine and what it does for us. I can warmly recommend it," Irwin adds.

The RUNI drying process with a very low energy consumption can be used for pressing water out of a wide range of materials and can make them useful for waste-to-energy systems or further recycling.  RUNI has successfully pressed water/liquid out of PE film, PET bottles, PC and HDPE bottles, EPS and PU foam, and reject from the paper

In the United States, the compactor has been spotted at a number of recycling facilities, as well as at a beverage plants that need to deliquify bottles become compaction.

Mike McChrystal with Ohio Baler, says that the systems they are marketing comes in three sizes, depending on the customer, anywhere from a retail establishment that may seek a compactor for EPS plastics, to large manufacturers such as paper mills that seek to extract and reduce the liquids before the material is disposed.

For more information on the RUNI screw conveyor, contact Ohio Baler at (216) 398-8800, or visit the Website at www.ohiobaler.com.