ENNEATECH
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Filled PA recyclate outperforms virgin material
Enneatech AG has been working on the idea of producing high-impact polyamide from recycled material since 2018. The company from Grossefehn has set the bar high. Using a PA6.6GF50, one hundred percent based on the by-products of the high-end textile industry, the company set out to achieve an impact strength of 100 kJ/m2 for the material – without the use of additives or foreign polymers. In comparison, commercially available polyamides achieve an impact strength of around 90 kJ/m2 – albeit for virgin material. Recyclates can achieve strengths of around 75 kJ/m2.
A gentle compounding process was required that would minimise damage to fibres and the PA recyclate. Most extruder manufacturers turned down this request. In their opinion, impact strengths of this magnitude cannot be achieved. But with one company, Enneatech was able to rise to the challenge. The partners conducted 120 trials, constantly optimising the formula and the process. The result is impressive. The PA6.6GF50 recyclate surpassed the benchmark with an impact strength of between 107 and 120 kJ/m2 in all measurements. If virgin material is used, the measuring system reaches its limits. It only displays a maximum value of 125 kJ/m2 – but the PA6.6GF50 goes one step further.
The advantages of the new polyamide in Enneatech’s range are obvious. Higher mechanical strengths allow for lower component wall thicknesses. This saves material and costs and protects the climate, because it improves the CO2 footprint of the component created from the new material.
Enneatech has invested EUR 4.6 million in the new compounding line for the high-impact material. EUR 670,000 comes from subsidies. The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programme „Individual Enterprise Investment Support“ des Europäischen Fonds für regionale Entwicklung (EFRE) has provided funding, as has the „Neustart Niedersachsen Investition“
programme (Restart Lower Saxony Investment programme), which was launched in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The lion’s share of just under EUR 4 million, however, has been provided by Enneatech itself. The company has built a new hall of just under 900 m2 for the new plant, which, in addition to the new compounding line, offers sufficient space for further expansion in the future. The extruder has already moved into the new hall, together with all of the peripherals such as infrared pre-drying, dosing systems, silos for raw material storage, the expanded laboratory equipment with the injection moulding machine for the production of test specimens, and much more. Production will start in the third quarter of 2022 with an annual capacity of 6000 t.
