Case Studies
28/01/2025 |
With a mobile sorting platform, almaak International takes the quality of the regrind into its own hands
almaak International GmbH is a company with many years of experience in the production, processing and development of technical plastic compounds. Around 200 employees develop and produce customised plastics for small and large plastics processors worldwide. Around 60,000 tonnes of technical thermoplastics (PA, PC, PBT, ABS, PC/PBT, PC/ABS, PBT/ASA, PP etc.) are produced annually at the Krefeld and Doberlug-Kirchhain sites on 18 production lines. These products are mainly used in the automotive industry, in the electrical and household appliance industry and in the construction industry. almaak International is certified according to various quality standards such as ISO 9001, 50001 and 14001 and thus fulfils the highest demands on quality assurance and quality management.
almaak has over 60 years of experience in the production of recyclates. These many years of experience in handling secondary raw materials make the company one of the leading providers of sustainable product solutions in Europe. For a long time, only post-industrial recyclates (PIR) were used as raw materials for these products due to their good availability and high-quality, consistent material sources. The first products with a proportion of post-consumer recyclates (PCR) have been available since the end of 2023.
The problem: Highly contaminated regrind
The plastics processing industry is facing ever-increasing demands: rising raw material prices, lack of material availability, complicated supply chains, increased delivery times and, above all, continuously declining material quality in the form of contamination with foreign bodies, foreign colours and foreign plastics. almaak‘s most important requirement: metal particles should be removed from the regrind with little loss of good material.
The solution: Material sorting with PRE-SORT mobile sorting platform
In order to be able to produce sustainably and reliably with PCR, plastics processors must be able to control the quality of their incoming material themselves. Contaminants such as metal particles impair the quality of plastics. The aim is to increase the purity of the material before processing in order to automatically ensure greater safety and a higher quality of the end products. The PRE-SORT sorting platform from Sesotec gives almaak full control over the quality of the input material and makes it less dependent on external suppliers. The mobile sorting platform offers full process flexibility thanks to its freely combinable sensor technology and the ability to select different sorting processes depending on the material composition. Following the idea of a plug-and-play methodology, the system is immediately ready for use and fits seamlessly into any production environment thanks to its compact design.
The device makes it possible to buy goods in B or C quality at a lower price, which means savings of up to 50% compared to A quality. The PRE-SORT sorting platform amortises itself within a short time.
„With tests in August 2023, Sesotec showed us that our requirements can be met in practice. Metal particles were removed from the regrind and the loss of good material was low“, says Marc Marmetschke, Senior Manager Engineering, Maintenance and Project Development at almaak. He adds: „Our short-term goal is to demetallise a few hundred tonnes of heavily contaminated material that has been sitting in our warehouse for some time so that we can use the material. This will allow us to benefit from an immediate return on investment.“
