German engineering contractor Zimmer (D-60388 Frankfurt; www.zimmer-ag.de) has developed a new “direct to perform” (DTP) technology for PET that it calls a “technological quantum leap” that will “revolutionise the way bottles are made.” The process now being tested in a pilot plant in Frankfurt allows bottle blanks to be manufactured directly from the melt, thus bypassing the solid stage, which up to now has been state-of-the-art. As an alternative, the new process uses a reactor to achieve high viscosity and is connected to a melt flow-way farther downstream. From here, the next step leads directly to the injection moulding machine – made by Husky Injection Molding Systems (Europe: L-3401 Dudelange; www.husky.ca). In the pilot plant this is a modified “Quadloc” with a two-cavity mould.

Presenting the process to journalists, Dr. Ulrich A. Berger, technology director at Zimmer, said the construction of this type of plant allows cost savings of 5% and a 10% reduction in production costs, in particular as it uses components from other types of plants, such as those used to produce high viscosity yarns. According to Berger, the minimum size for the direct-to-preform plant should be 150 t/d. With a PET output of 600 t/d, the plant would need to have 16 machines with a total mould capacity of 144 cavities and an output capability of 15m performs per day. Floor space of 80x50 metres would be required. Zimmer´s target markets for the new process are China and eastern Europe, along with densely populated regions. By the end of this year, the engineering group hopes to win its first contract for a plants using the new process.

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Charts from lecture by Dr. Ulrich A. Berger illustrating the Zimmer DTP process as PDF document (543 KB)