Aimplas, the plastic industry centre based in Valencia, Spain, has played a key role in a new decontamination project which claims to eliminate 70% more contaminant substances than current conventional processes.
The Life Extruclean project featured co-operative work from other Spanish organsiations including technology centre Aidimme, the association of exporters Arvet, and environmental consulting firm Acteco and compounding firm Enplast.
The project has developed a decontamination process by using sc-CO2 (supercritical carbon dioxide) in the extrusion process. It will run for 30 months and is funded through the European Union’s Life programme.
Acteco and Aimplas are implementing the new technology with the aim of simplifying the current washing and drying processes previous to extrusion.
During initial testing, the process was optimised by using contaminated polyethylene jerry cans in a controlled environment with simulants and liquid models.
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