Pallmann solution for optimising PVC recycling

Germany – Norway’s Protan Group has invested Euro 1.2 million in Pallmann technology to upgrade its recycling facility so as to improve the treatment of PVC production leftovers. The German size-reduction specialist has provided ‘a tailor-made three-in-one recycling installation’ for grinding, agglomerating and pulverising.

Following 18 months of mechanical fine-tuning, Protan’s recycling facility is once again a ‘state-of-the-art’ link in the manufacturing chain for roofing foils and ventilation tubes destined for tunnels and mines. Protan typically incorporates 6% recyclate in its production process but this had been proving significantly harder to achieve because of its ‘outdated’ technology.

‘On top of that, new products required new particle sizes, which could not be produced with the old technology,’ explains Tom Lillemoen, Protan’s technical manager. The previous solutions were also provided by Pallmann, a long-term partner of Protan. ‘It would have been stupid not to purchase new technology,’ Lillemoen adds.

Indeed, the new recycling plant has enabled Protan, which boasts an annual turnover of Euro 110 million, to create coverings on roofs ‘in some of the most challenging climates in the world’ like the African desert and the tundra on the Spitzbergen archipelago in the Arctic Ocean.  

‘Almost 20 years of experience at Protan and Pallmann in reusing production waste allowed us to engage quickly in deep technical discussions to find the best adapted solutions,’ notes Michel Marchal, project and area sales manager for Pallmann.