BB Engineering Unveils First Bottle-to-Poly Line at Open House Event

The visitors saw what the company calls the world’s first VarioFil R+ bottle spinning line in action.
Last week, more than 120 customers from all over the world were invited by BB Engineering (BBE) to the presentation of the new machine at an open house event at its plant in Remscheid, Germany.
Visitors saw what the company claims is the world’s first operating VarioFil R+ bottle spinning line at POY, producing 150f48 solution-dyed black yarn.
The new VarioFil R+ is a POY spinning line that uses recycled bottle flakes as feedstock for POY spinning.
This line features a number of technical features such as a special extrusion system for bottleflake material, the latest dosing and mixing technology for in-mass dyeing, and advanced two-stage melt filtration.
As a result, according to the manufacturer, a high-quality mass-dyed POY is obtained. The turnkey machine consists of 4 spinning stations, each equipped with a WINGS POY winder with 10 heads from Oerlikon Barmag.
PET has become the go-to material for beverage packaging, with billions of PET bottles used worldwide each year. A large number of PET bottles are often disposed of as waste after initial use and are an ideal source of raw materials for the sustainable production of synthetic fibers. Reuse of resources and raw materials and energy efficient manufacturing processes are becoming increasingly popular.
The VarioFil R+ concept is said to combine all these trends. PET bottle flakes are used as raw material, which avoids additional granulation of bottle flakes into recycled PET chips. This has significant advantages in terms of investment and energy costs. It is also said to provide the latest in mass dyeing technology, the most resource-efficient dyeing process.
Consequently, the company reports that the development of VarioFil R+ highlights the growing trend in demand for textiles made from sustainable yarns. It also gives processors the opportunity to sell high quality yarns instead of flakes, thus creating added value.
Other highlights of the open day included a live demonstration of the texturing process, conversion of manufactured rPOY to DTY on Oerlikon Barmag’s eAFK texturing machine, and a new BBE cleaning system for melt filters called White Filter Cleaning WFC.
WFC can clean melt filters as well as other melt contaminated components without any chemical solvents and is a good addition to the VarioFil R+ range for cleaning filter equipment.
Virtual tour of the new VarioFil R+ production line, a detailed introduction to Oerlikon Barmag’s winder assembly department, the origins of the famous WINGS POY winder, and a technical demonstration in recycling, recycled yarn and coatings. – the open day for coloring became informative for all participants.