FIMIC and Zimmer America partner on new melt filter for Massachusetts recycling facility

Italian company FIMIC, in partnership with Spartanburg, South Carolina based Zimmer America Recycling Solutions (a div. of ZARS-USA, LLC), recently installed a new RAS500 model melt filter to process post-consumer polypropylene at Aaron Industries in Leominster Massachusetts.

Aaron Industries has become a leader in recycled plastic innovation and is one of the largest recycled resin compounders in the Northeast. It prides itself on formulating to customer specifications with 200 various grades of PS, PE and PP.
The filter was installed in April 2018, and will be processing 2000 lbs/h of PP on a Davis-Standard extruder using a 35 mesh punched screen. The installation process went very smoothly, with the machine fully installed within a day. With the help of an on-site FIMIC engineer and a Spartanburg based ZARS engineer, it was fully running by the end of the day. The second day was dedicated to training the operator how to properly run the machine. 

The melt filter is an integral part of the modern plastic recycling process to ensure the highest quality output and greatest production efficiency. With the possibility of supplying both punched and laser screens, the FIMIC continuous and self cleaning filter systems type RAS and type ERA remains the most efficient and economical systems for removing paper, cardboard, aluminum, metal, rubber, wood, and other contaminants from post-industrial and post-consumer materials such as PP, HDPE, LDPE, ABS, etc. The FIMIC melt filter is able to filter many types of contaminants without the need of any pre-filtering or "police filter". In some cases it even eliminates the need for a wash process, while still maintaining high output rates, even with complex materials such as HDPE with very low MFI. FIMIC is also introducing new models to the North American market to explore different applications, like the new ERA filter. It is available with a 100 micron laser filter. It provides fine filtration for highly contaminated plastic and is especially suited for blown film, high-quality sheet and similar applications using recycled plastic that requires a clean melt.

The new FIMIC ERA consists of two filters, two melt chambers, and two discharge points in one machine. The fist chamber uses a punch screen to filter out large contaminants. The second chamber uses the laser-drilled filter to capture smaller contaminants.

FIMIC has specialized in the production of automatic self-cleaning melt filters for heavily contaminated plastic materials for over 20 years, and now continues to expand into the US market to demonstrate its capabilities. 

Zimmer America Recycling Solutions is the exclusive sales and service representative for FIMIC in North America. The Spartanburg, SC based company has a fully stocked warehouse with all essential spare parts to keep customers' operations running smoothly.