PTI teams with Italy's Bandera for dryerless sheet lines

By Bill Bregar | PLASTICS NEWS STAFF
Posted February 25, 2010

AURORA, ILL. (Feb. 25, 11:50 a.m. Et) -- Italy’s Bandera Luigi Costruzioni Meccaniche SpA has teamed up with Processing Technologies LLC to supply dryerless sheet lines to the North American market, for running PET and polylactic acid.

PTI officials said dryerless PET and PLA sheet extrusion is widely accepted in Europe but relatively uncommon in North America.

The companies announced the 10-year agreement on Feb. 23. Bandera and PTI will supply extrusion equipment to create the sheet lines. PTI also will provide its Titan control system, as well as electrical components approved by Underwriters Laboratories, for delivery throughout North America.

PTI plans to install a production-scale demonstration line later this year at its headquarters in Aurora, Ill.

Bandera is based in Busto Arsizio, Italy.

“We feel it’s important to have the ability to demonstrate this technology to potential customers under real-world conditions,” PTI President Dana Hanson said. “Our plan is to have customers send in their own material, or we will have material available to them to trial.”

PTI will supply turnkey systems.

Bandera’s High Vacuum Twin Screw Extruder (HVTSE) technology is linked to a PTI single-screw sheet line and other PTI downstream equipment. HVTSE allows PET to be processed without the need for drying and crystallizing the PET or PLA, the company said. Using vacuum, the Bandera extruder de-volatizes and de-moisturizes the material, as part of the extrusion process.

The Bandera technology uses a co-rotating twin-screw extruder with a 52:1 length-to-diameter ratio, according to John Chalmers, PTI’s vice president of sales and marketing.

PTI does not make twin-screw extruders. Bandera wants to expand its sales in North America.

Chalmers said that energy savings is a big draw for the dryerless sheet extrusion technology. “People are looking at overall production costs a lot more than they used to because margins are so low,” he said.

Chalmers said that a dryerless system gives about a 30 percent savings on drying costs over a conventional single-screw extrusion system.

Under the 10-year exclusive agreement, PTI will promote the Bandera technology, and incorporate it into PTI sheet extrusion lines, according to Andrea Rigliano, Bandera’s vice president of sales and marketing. The lines will be manufactured in Aurora, and PTI will handle service and support.

Luigi Bandera founded the company in 1947. Bandera makes single-screw and co-rotating and counter-rotating twin screw extrusion lines for blown film, sheet and pipe production. Today the company is managed by his sons, Piero and Franco Bandera.

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