Hello out there! I will i be talking on Polyethylene Terephthalate processing and recycling in the next few days.

seated

Yea

Morning! After the brief break, I will use the next few days to talk on the major aspects and their detailed explanation. The following will be the major topics :

1. Processing Technique for bottles
2. Specific method {Injection stretch blow moulding}
3. Materials and Equipment
4. Stretch blow moulding
5. Machine types
6. Bottle design considerations + IML (In Mould Labelling)
7. Machine details
8. Mold details
9. Processing details
10. Quality Control

N.B: All contributions and questions are welcome pertaining to the topic.

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Courtesy: CREDO NG TECH. SOLUTIONS

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CREDO NG ©2017

TECHNICAL DETAILS ( PART ONE)
From this stage on, I will get a little bit technical with my explanations and I will always upload pictures of pieces of equipment I mention at any stage also with materials being processed with their end products (finished articles) 

N.B. 
This thread is meant to serve EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE . Also to reiterate, all questions & CONSTRUCTIVE contributions are welcome. Feedback is not left out. 

AIM:
To wet the appetite of readers and encourage its replicability on a small scale ( both processing and recycling) 
Thanks.

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT


MATERIALS AND GRADES

Polyethylene terephthalate material are of different grades which sometimes based on the degree of polymerization or copolymer content. Different grades serve different purposes. For example, the grade used in the production CSD (carbonated soft drinks) bottles is different from that used in the production of bottles for table water, beverages, pharmaceutical packaging materials.
Common products around are: Jade and Relpet from India, Ramapet from Indorana here in Nigeria.

Virgin resin is sometimes mixed with available regrind( granulated PET bottle or preform waste) which is used in the production of preforms

Colour concentrates are the major additives used in production process due to the good intrinsic properties of PET as an Engineering thermoplastic polyester. Different colours used are: Amber, PET white, PET green, Water blue. The clear ones takes the natural colour of PET.
Common one around is from Sarsoli colours, here in Nigeria.

#pictures here show the virgin resin, bag of PET material, regrind and regrind mixed with resin for production of preform

Thanks.

Ride on bro. Following.

EQUIPMENT

1. injection moulding machine ( There are a lot of this in Nigeria. Common ones are Ferromatik Milacron PET series and CSD ).
The injection moulding machine comes mostly with its auxiliary  equipment as a complete unit.
Examples of such are drying silo, mould heat remover, material loader or hopper. The volumetric dosing cylinder ( for colour concentrates) is separately obtained.

2. injection stretch blow moulding machine (The common ones are: 
Aoline AL SERIES, Smargon, CSD and manual).

3. Auxiliary equipment include: High pressure and low pressure compressors, water chiller cooling tower ( only needed in the case of injection moulding machines)

Pictures of Ferromatik, CSD, material loader, complete unit and blowing machines from CSD, SMARGON AND AOLINE, water chiller and compressors( LP and HP) are shown below

Equipment cont'd
1. Water chliller, automatic stretch blow moulding machine, complete unit of an injection moulding machine bottles coming out of a blow mould

The first stage of production of bottles which involves the injection moulding of PET preforms. 

MATERIAL HANDLING

The material is loaded through a hopper into the drying silo at a temperature of 180°C to reduce the moisture content of the PET material for some hours. After which it is released into the hopper of the injection moulding machine. 

INJECTION MOULDING MACHINE

The injection moulding machine is sized based in various factors such as the clamping force, plasticating size of the barrel, injection screw diameter. These are factors that determine mostly the cost of procurement and the 

The clamping force is used in sizing a suitable mould to be utilized. The size of the mould has a linear relationship with the number of cavities present. 
The moulding period remains the same irrespective of the number of cavities and the distinguishing factor is the shot size.

The ejector sleeves of the mould which has the threading determines the type of preform produced


PROCESSING DATA

In moulding of synthetic polymers into desired articles, the properties of the polymeric material of concern determines the processing data
PET material is processed between a temperature of 318 to 298°C in the injection barrel of the machine. This data comes mostly with the machine manual and the installers handle this part mostly
 
Clear preforms are produced without the use of master batch while coloured preforms are produced with the use of volumetric dosing cylinder containing the master batch attached to the hopper.

The first stage of production of bottles which involves the injection moulding of PET preforms. 

MATERIAL HANDLING

The material is loaded through a hopper into the drying silo at a temperature of 180°C to reduce the moisture content of the PET material for some hours. After which it is released into the hopper of the injection moulding machine. 

INJECTION MOULDING MACHINE

The injection moulding machine is sized based in various factors such as the clamping force, plasticating size of the barrel, injection screw diameter. These are factors that determine mostly the cost of procurement and the 

The clamping force is used in sizing a suitable mould to be utilized. The size of the mould has a linear relationship with the number of cavities present. 
The moulding period remains the same irrespective of the number of cavities and the distinguishing factor is the shot size.

The ejector sleeves of the mould which has the threading determines the type of preform produced


PROCESSING DATA

In moulding of synthetic polymers into desired articles, the properties of the polymeric material of concern determines the processing data
PET material is processed between a temperature of 318 to 298°C in the injection barrel of the machine. This data comes mostly with the machine manual and the installers handle this part mostly
 
Clear preforms are produced without the use of master batch while coloured preforms are produced with the use of volumetric dosing cylinder containing the master batch attached to the hopper.

Pictures of clear and green preforms

The Injection moulded preforms are conveyed to the blow moulding station.

Reheat Stretch Blow Moulding

This is the second stage of the processing of producing PET bottles. It involves the reheating of the initially produced preforms by feeding on the mandrel of the machine which is powered by a rotary wheel. The preforms move through multi stage infrared heaters ( this is used in new injection stretch blow moulding machines ) while the older versions (manual) use frequency heaters.

The preform is heated to attain its orientation temperature ( point of plasticity) before it is finally blown into the desired shape of the mould.

TECHNICAL DETAILS PART TWO

The earlier part was to give a brief info about the whole process. 
This remaining part will be on STRETCH BLOW MOULDING of PET preforms to bottle. I believe anyone that understands this part can startup a small scale PET bottle production company by buying PET preforms from companies out there to produce bottles.

There are some fundamentals which anyone that wants to undertake this must understand. I will be explaining that thoroughly without using too much technical terms. 

Your questions are welcome. Also contributions from people in the industry are also appreciated

Nice thread

Thank you.

Around how much would it cost to get these facilities?

WebSurfer:
Nice thread

Thank you.

Around how much would it cost to get these facilities?

This will be addressed a later time when we get to sizing and costing

generalstingz:


This will be addressed a later time when we get to sizing and costing

ok

Morning

MACHINE TYPES

Semi Automatic
Linear Shuttle type
And Rotary machines

Morning

Happy New Year!

Hello everyone! After a long break, I will resume ASAP on the topic of discussion.

generalstingz:
Happy New Year!

Thank you so much for the info you’ve shared so far. Do you have a contact phone number or email I can reach you through. Much regards Bro.

pacharles1:

Thank you so much for the info you’ve shared so far. Do you have a contact phone number or email I can reach you through. Much regards Bro.

08064791246

Morning to you all! After a long break, I will continue our discussion from where I stopped.
The picture below shows a semi automatic reheat stretch blow moulding machine. It has the reheat compartment apart while the blowing compartment is also apart.
In the processing of a PET preform using this method, the PET preforms are placed on the mandrel ( preform jig; it appears white in the picture below). The heat data is also set according to the grams. After enough plasticity ( orientation temperature) has been achieved, the preform is then transferred to the other section which is majorly controlled by two knobs ( the opening and closing of the blow mould) in blowing process.

The 3rd picture shows a high pressure compressor with the air filter connected to it.

Morning to you all ! Have a wonderful week ahead

Morning

Morning!

Hello everyone! The topic will be further treated as a whole in the coming days.

Morning!

Hello!

Morning!

The tutorial will take its full form soonest.
I will like us to click like to show our interest in the topic.

Happy New Year !