In this process, multilayer composite materials made of plastic, aluminum and paper are treated in a special separation process. The process will be used at the new saperatec site in Dessau-Roßlau in Saxony-Anhalt. From 2023, up to 18,000 tons of packaging waste will be processed there every year.

Saperatec uses a separating liquid to delaminate and dissolve into the respective components. The different layers are thereby separated from each other and sorted by material in further process steps. The separated plastic (for example polyethylene) is then processed into a regranulate using established processes. This can be used to produce plastic film again. The separated aluminum foil is passed on by saperatec to aluminum producers and refiners for reuse.

GEA developed the separation and washing process in partnership with saperatec at the in-house GEA Separation Test Center in Oelde. The aim here was to back up the project with facts and figures and to evaluate the process for sedimentation centrifuge technology. The target-oriented laboratory-scale trials thus turned into pilot trials, which served as a process guarantee for the defined production scale with a GEA dryMaster CF decanter and a directly driven TSI 200 disk separator.

GEA relied on proven technologies – such as the GEA dryMaster clarifier for maximum efficiency. This flat-bed decanter centrifuge was developed for separation and dewatering in inorganic processes. The solid bowl has a cylindrical section for efficient clarification of the liquid and a conical section for drying the solids. Due to the high bowl speed, the solids settle on the inner wall of the bowl and are transported to the solids discharge by the built-in screw conveyor. In the decanter types of the GEA dryMaster series, the clarified liquid is discharged freely into a collecting vessel and flows off by gravity. To ensure maximum efficiency at all times under fluctuating process conditions, the GEA dryMaster is equipped with the GEA summationdrive®.

The TSI 200 disk separator is equipped with the patented GEA hydrostop discharge system, which is capable of periodically discharging the separated solids at full speed. This patented discharge system increases the yield to a maximum. With short opening times, the solids are discharged in compacted form. The GEA hydrostop system reduces the actual discharge time to less than a tenth of a second. This ensures that even small volumes are emptied reproducibly with an error rate of less than ten percent. This innovative technology enables precise, fast discharges and thus significantly higher and qualitatively better yields.

The GEA TSI-200 is also used at saperatec. (Photo: GEA)

GEA disk separators are available with different drive types: gear drive, belt drive, directdrive and integrated directdrive. The integrated direct drive represents the latest stage in the separator development process. It operates without motor shaft, gearbox, belt, coupling and motor bearings. The small number of installed components not only reduces energy losses, but also maintenance costs, and increases machine availability. The space requirement of the integrated direct drive is about one third less than for comparable machines with gearbox or flat belt drive.

GEA disk separators with integrated direct drive can be operated very flexibly. Within a certain range, the bowl speed is infinitely variable via frequency converter. In addition, the maintenance itself can be significantly simplified.