Name:  Novatec, Inc.

        Address: 222 E. Thomas Ave.         

City: Baltimore, MD 21225

CEO:  Conrad Bessemer

Product: Plastic

Phone: 410-789-4811   Year Founded: 1970

            With acquisition of a license from European patent holders, Novatec, Inc. has begun the first U.S. production of a completely new type of dryer/crystallizer that simplifies the processing of PET resin and regrind and requires dramatically less energy, time and plant space than conventional systems.

      Novatec is the only U.S. company authorized to build and market the crystallizer/dryer, called the Infrared Rotary Drum (IRD) dryer.  The licensing agreement is with Stricker IRD Patent GbR in Germany and UPM Holdings Ltd. in the U.K. Novatec is building the IRD systems at its facility in Baltimore.

      At the company’s new Drying Technology Center in Baltimore, Novatec has carried out test runs of PET regrind from two U.S. packaging companies, in both cases demonstrating that the IRD system uses far less energy than a comparable standard system.

      “The IRD dryer provides by far the fastest, simplest, least energy-intensive method for manufacturers of PET film and sheet to prepare resin and regrind for processing,” said Conrad M. Bessemer, Novatec president and CEO. “The drying process takes only minutes instead of the hours needed in conventional equipment, and it uses up to 65 percent less energy than desiccant systems. In high-volume applications like clamshell containers and other products that are heavily dependent on reclaimed material, this new technology eliminates need for large insulated drying hoppers and separate crystallizers that often require large ceiling clearances.”

      The innovative technology was developed by Stricker IRD Patent GbR.  “The IRD dryer has been commercially proven by PET processors around the world using more than 50 systems built by our licensees in Europe and Japan,” said Urban Stricker, inventor of the technology.  “Now NOVATEC will draw on its expertise as the most diversified supplier of dryers to build these high-efficiency systems for U.S. processors.”

Keys to efficiency

      The central component of the IRD dryer is a large, horizontal, stainless steel rotating cylinder or drum on whose inside wall is a helical arrangement of flights that transport PET through the length of the drum.  The resin is tumbled as it moves through the drum, so that all surfaces are exposed to radiation from a central bank of infrared heaters around which the drum rotates. As radiant energy, infrared heats only the resin, not the surrounding air, and causes the heating to occur from the core of the pellet to the outside. The moisture thus driven from the pellets is carried away by a stream of ambient air.

      The investment cost for an IRD dryer is roughly equivalent to that of a conventional dryer and separate crystallizer, according to Bessemer, but he cited several big advantages over the conventional equipment:

      • Substantial energy savings. The energy consumed by the new IRD system for drying PET varies with the moisture level of the incoming material and other factors, but typically the dryer consumes around 0.1 kW per kilogram of material per hour, as against more than double that rate for most conventional crystallizers and dryers.

      • Greater productivity and versatility. While the drying time for PET in a desiccant system is about five or six hours, the new IRD dryer requires only eight to 13 minutes (the time in which PET travels the length of the drum) to reduce moisture content. This means that processors can begin producing saleable goods that much sooner after startups or extruder stoppages.  And since the IRD dryer employs a continuous process that does not require large hopper-loads of material to keep up with the production line, color and job changes are simpler and less time-consuming.   

      • Simpler equipment system.  While conventional desiccant systems require a separate crystallizer and a large dryer and hopper, all that is needed with the IRD dryer is a relatively low-capacity dryer connected to a buffer hopper holding less than an hour’s worth of extrusion or molding machine throughput.  

      • Less maintenance.  The Novatec IRD system does away with desiccant beds, regeneration heaters, process heaters, and air flow valves.  A relatively small motor turns the drum.  Replacements for the infrared heaters are readily available and inexpensive.

      Novatec offers the system in five models, with nominal throughputs ranging from 200 to 4,000 pounds (90-1,820 kg) per hour.    

      Novatec, INC. is a leading supplier of resin drying, blending, and pneumatic conveying systems to plastics processors.  The ISO 9001-certified company specializes in custom-engineered material handling systems that meet specific process and production requirements.  Its range of dryers is the broadest in the industry, including desiccant, hot air, compressed air, and infrared systems, as well as the patented NovaDrier compressed air / membrane dryer and the NovaVac II vacuum dryer.

      Novatec was bought in 1976 by a group of private investors led by two key plastics auxiliary equipment executives.

      Bessemer, who also is managing partner of the investment group, was head of Conair North America and Conair-Americas until he resigned in February 2006. He had served Conair in executive roles for 19 years and is widely credited for a recent resurgence of new product development and market share. Another member of the management buyout team is Lawrence F. DeBaugh, who was president of Novatec and now is chairman of the new Novatec. Longtime executive vice president John W. (Jack) Doub will remain in that position

      The strategic plan of the new management group builds on Novatec’s strengths as a leader in the engineering of total resin handling systems and a supplier of the industry’s broadest range of resin dryers, according to Bessemer. “We intend to double the size of Novatec over a three-year period through innovative technology, broader product range, new marketing initiatives, and expansion into Europe and Asia from the company’s current market base in the Americas,” he said. “The driving force in this rapid growth will be the interaction of three elements critical to our customers’ success: Novatec people who are expert professionals, Novatec technologies that are continually improved, and an ISO 9001-certified Novatec process that assures quality and consistency in products and service.”

      Much of the innovation at Novatec will focus on energy efficiency, according to Bessemer. “Roughly 20,000 of the dryers now in operation are 10 years old or older and use up to 50 percent more energy than they have to,” he noted. “Now that energy costs have soared, there is an enormous demand for energy efficient dryers that Novatec will meet with current and new technology. We intend to back up our energy usage claims with data on actual energy consumption for every dryer we sell.”

      Plastics processors can choose among a range of dryers based on moisture-removal technologies as different as hot air, compressed air, desiccants, and infrared radiation.