“We are still a recycling newcomer and are therefore particularly proud that our technology has already convinced so far that we are now among the finalists. Our origin lies in extrusion, filtration and spinning technology. We have incorporated our decades of know-how in these fields into the development of our VacuFil® Visco+ process. We have succeeded in developing a fiber-to-fiber recycling process that produces high-quality rPET yarn. Being named a finalist is already a great achievement for us.” said Mr. Matthias Schmitz, Head of Engineering Recycling Technology.

BB Engineering GmbH (BBE) is a German machine building company founded in 1997 as a joint venture between Oerlikon Barmag, a subsidiary of Oerlikon Textile GmbH & Co. KG, and Brückner Group GmbH. Today, the company employs more than 160 members of staff at its location in Remscheid, Germany. BBE is the exclusive supplier of its mother companies for extrusion systems, melt filtration technology, recycling technology (VacuFil® Visco+), compact spinning technology (VarioFil®) and air-texturized yarn (ATY) technology. Beyond that, the entire portfolio is offered to third parties within the plastics and textile industry. 

The process presented as part of the award is the combined VacuFil® Visco+ with VarioFil®. This machinery enables the textile industry to perform closed-loop inline recycling of post-consumer polyester (PET) textile waste. The given recycling technology is a thermo-mechanical recycling process optimized for the textile industry. Key component here is the liquid state polycondensation reactor, known as Visco+, to adjust the intrinsic viscosity. Compared to existing fiber recycling processes, which address rather less demanding textile applications and don’t include subsequent spinning, BBE’s solution is a whole-in-one process that enables the textile industry to perform closed-loop inline recycling of post-consumer PET fiber waste even into high-tech textile yarns with low dpf-values.

The Plastics Recycling Awards Europe 2022 winners will be announced on 23 June, during the second day of the Plastics Recycling Show Europe taking place at the RAI Amsterdam.