URRC process

Another possibility to use PET recyclate for food applications is the URRC process (United Resource Recovery Corporation). In this method the cleaned PET flakes are covered with concentrated caustic soda. After evaporation of the water in a rotary kiln the sodium hydroxide etches the surface of the PET at a temperature of more than 200°C. The resulting sodium terephthalate is removed by washing. The remaining flakes are used for the production of bottle preforms. Since 2000 several plants in Switzerland and Germany have been established [1],... 

United Resource Recovery Corporation This outfit were the originators of the UnPET and ElybridUnPET processes. The former appears to be a saponification process. The latter is less clear, but appears to at least include an additional grinding stage to increase the efficiency of the overall process. The company is currently mainly involved in licensing out these processes to other recyclers. The website is www.urrc.net. 

PET x-ray film represents another source of recycled material. Since these materials generally are coated with silver, there has long been a potent economic incentive for their recovery, and silver from x-ray film has been recovered since the early 1900s. In such processes, recovered PET can be obtained as a by-product of silver recovery. Its recycling is complicated by the fact that it is generally coated with PVDC. Gemark is reported to have a proprietary process to remove the PVDC. United Resource Recovery Corp. (URRC) of Spartanburg, SC, is another U.S. recycler of x-ray and other silver-coated PET... 

---