Upper Austrian Innovation-Award for NGR
Linz, 30. September 2014. Next Generation Recyclingmaschinen GmbH has been honored with the Upper Austrian Innovation-Award for the development of a process to enhance the material properties of PET. The LSP-Process (Liquid State Polycondensation) enables the enhancement of PET through “Post-Condensation” in the molten material state and surpasses governmental requirements concerning food-approvals.
The Award was handed over by Dr. Michael Strugl (Head of Economic Council) and Dr. Michael Rockenschaub (CEO of Sparkasse OÖ) to Mr. Thomas Pichler and Mr. David Hehenberger (both NGR).
from left to right: Dr. Jetschgo (Host), Dr. Michael Rockenschaub (CEO of Sparkasse OÖ), David Hehenberger (LSP Project Leader), Thomas Pichler (Technical Director), Dr. Michael Strugl (Head of Economic Council)
“The NGR-Team feels most honored and proud, in particular about the appreciation on reaching our targets on the development. Upper Austria is a region, which is highly industrially developed and we are used to performing in this competitive environment – this gives the Award a remarkable significance”, comments Thomas Pichler, Technical Director and Joint Partner of NGR.
The LSP-Process allows to transform production-waste out of PET-conversion as, fibers, fabrics, wovens + non-wovens, preforms, strapping tapes and films into high quality resin, to be used in the main plastic-processing routine. The inherent decrease of material-properties during conversion of PET (lowering of IV-values), can be fully compensated by the LSP-process up to the quality of virgin-material. Third party-tests (Fraunhofer IVV), certify the LSP-process being suitable for the processing of end-of-life PET-Bottle-Flakes.
Conventional PET-upgrading-technologies mostly use the SSP-process (Solid State Polycondensation), whereby an enhancement of the material-properties usually takes hours in comparison to minutes by the LSP-process. The fitness of the process for 100% food contact has been announced by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration USA) in November 2013.
“Manufacturers of PET-fibers are highly interested in converting their production scrap into high quality resin. The Innovation-Award of the Province of Upper Austria gives the required boost to our team, as we are facing the challenging market-introduction in early 2015”, quotes David Hehenberger, LSP Project Leader at NGR.
