MATERIALS / RECYCLING
14
MATERIALS
Special
New reactor drying technology by Piovan
Low temperature and
constant viscosity
GenesysR, the new generation of reactor drying systems
by Piovan officially launched at the PETnology Forum in
Nuremberg 2016. Naturally, PETplanet Insider was keen to
find out more.
PETplanet: Piovan’s Genesys
system delivers PET-resin drying with
energy consumption 55% lower than
today’s conventional resin-drying
systems. GenesysR is a new product
– how does it build upon this energyefficient profile?
Piovan: Reactor drying is a new
technology, combining the benefits of
rapid heat up of the PET with a new
control of the residual moisture of the
resin. Piovan was a supplier of small
scale vertical tower SSP systems, a
range of products that would find use
in the late 80’s, early 90’s, that allowed
us to learn in depth about the physical
phenomenon taking place in the vertical
tower (reactor) while rapidly increasing
the polymer temperature. SSP takes
place at temperatures of 220°C and in
absence of oxygen. GenesysR operates at regular drying temperatures
(170 to 180°C) in a dried air environment and, differently from what happens in an SSP process, it does not
increase IV and reduce the drying time
from 7 hours to 5 hours. The energy
efficiency is further increased by 10Wh/
kg, it will ensure savings in the range
of 60% and beyond when compared to
a conventional drying system. Piovan
holds the only patent ever released for
high efficiency system for dehumidifying
and/or drying plastic materials.
trol. Any GenesysR system can be connected to the preform injection moulding
machine and by reading the injection
pressure in real time it has the capability of stabilising to the desired value. A
new algorithm specifically developed for
the AIPC can constantly adjust airflow,
temperature and dew-point of the process air, so that the injection pressure
be kept at the highest possible level of
constancy. This feature is particularly
valuable today as the new preform formats require thinner walls and therefore
controlled conditions of moisture and
injection pressure. AIPC is a patent
pending new invention.
and subsequent bottle, resides into
the physical and mechanical characteristics of the bottle itself. The best
processing condition for the PET resin
is obtained when the lowest possible
temperature increase, or energy addition, must be performed by the injection
unit, or extruder. GenesysR is capable
of measuring the quantity of energy
released to the PET, to feed the injection unit with material having the highest
possible mass temperature.
The energy addition at the injection
unit is a very critical parameter, as it
determines the IV drop of the PET: the
lower is the energy addition the lower
is the IV drop. The auto-adaptability
feature of GenesysR benefits the bottle
characteristics from two main perspectives: highest IV of the PET, obtained
by the energy balance capability, and
lowest AA level, obtained by the AIPC
feature.
PETplanet: How did you develop the
new product, and will it ultimately replace
Genesys?
PETplanet: How will the
GenesysR support beverage packaging manufacturers regarding high quality and
constancy of physical characteristics?
Piovan: GenesysR is the
only auto-adaptive drying system
available in the market that is
capable of determining a condition of energy balance in the
PET resin between drying and
injection processes. The reason
why energy balance is key for
the production of a preform,
PETplanet: Is the high productivity
of the Genesys maintained?
Piovan: The GenesysR line is
particularly suited for high productivity applications, where the benefits of
having a very low energy utilisation and
a highly stable process are exploited in
the highest degree. GenesysR benefits
of a new control of the residual moisture
in the PET, namely AIPC. AIPC stands
for Automatic Injection Pressure Con-
New reactor
drying technology for PET
PETplanet Insider
Vol. 18
No. 05/17
www.petpla.net
Piovan: GenesysR is the evolution
of Genesys and represents a further
step towards optimisation and perfection of the bottle manufacturing process.
The development of this new category
of drying systems, the new “reactor
drying systems”, was not performed in
a one, two or three year program, it is
the outcome of research and development in PET drying systems of Piovan
knowledge management. GenesysR
is not available in all the configurations
of Genesys. The two product lines will
coexist.
MATERIALS / RECYCLING
15
operate for the objective of achieving: a
high constancy of production, high preform and bottle quality, stable injection
moulding and blow moulding machine
operation, a reduction of scrap rate to
zero and an energy efficiency of the preform system.
PETplanet: We thank you so
much for this interesting discussion!
www.piovan.com
The GenesysR system for optimising the
bottle manufacturing process
PETplanet: How have you
tested and certified it?
Piovan: Ten GenesysR beta
installations have been functioning for the latest nine months and
the first GenesysR systems will
be made industrially available in
the first quarter of 2017.
Imagine taking
your operating costs
at the lowest level.
PETplanet: Piovan first introduced an auto-adaptive system,
able to adjust the functioning
mode of the drying system to the
industry in 2009. What makes
auto-adaptability so advantageous, and how does the technology work in your new product?
Piovan: GenesysR features
the highest degree of autoadaptability. If such function was
valuable back in 2009, it has
become indispensable today.
Auto-adaptability allows the use
of multiple grades of PET, from
different suppliers and produced
in different processes. PET is
today available in the so called
water grade (0.72 IV) and bottle
grade (0.82 IV), however it can
be produced by utilising very new
and innovative processes of polymerisation and solid state post
condensation, along with older
production systems.
Different PET from numerous sources are available today,
each requiring different processing or preparation conditions to
be adequately and efficiently
transformed into a preform/bottle.
GenesysR is a first milestone of
Industry 4.0 in the rigid packaging
industry, as it is a concrete example of how an Industry 4.0 compliant system, the so called Cyber
Physical System, is configured to
PETplanet Insider
Vol. 18
No. 05/17
COST
MAINTEoNf thAeNcaCpitaEl ini vestment
Less than 1%
Preform Systems
Designed to adapt.
Built to last.
We make it happen.
SIPA S.p.A. - Via Caduti del Lavoro, 3 - 31029 Vittorio Veneto (TV) - Italy
Tel. +39 0438 911511 - Fax +39 0438 912273 - email: [email protected]
www.sipa.it