Gasparotto said processors should not be frightened off by the zeolite bed being twice the size of conventional beds, as it not only works without requiring cooling water or compressed air for the changeover valve, but also features complete energy recovery by rotation, heat being recovered from cooling of the bed during molecular sieve regeneration.
But it is not just the zeolite drying technology that brings constant performance and high energy savings, but also for example, a new four-stage multi-stage centrifugal turbine blower developed with Padua University. This has been introduced in the first X Max 918 driers, which consume 13.2 kilowatts per hour when drying at a rate of 1,800 cubic meters per hour. This performance was recognized by customers buying 27 X Max 918 systems in the first three months after the 2013 introduction.
Eureka incorporates an original thermal exchange (OTX) hopper drier with innovative coaxial internal geometry ensuring even material and air flow through the hopper for drying efficiency and lower energy consumption than conventional hoppers.
The third element making up a complete Eureka system is Moretto's Flowmatik airflow management unit. This was first launched at Fakuma 2005 and can stop one or more driers and distribute the reduced load over the other driers.
Renato Moretto is particularly proud of the Leonardo computer used by Moretto's R&D department, used to design all components for optimum quality, economy and performance. The Leonardo computer operates at 22,000 billion operations per second and is one of just three such computers in Europe.
Asked about the return on investment with Eureka, Renato Moretto said the system can pay for itself through higher efficiency within three months — and that the entire investment cost of the Eureka system can be amortized within 12-24 months.
Moretto said Eureka has attracted interest mostly in more “mature” markets, where there tends to be more concern about ecology and energy saving, with the first target market in the United States supported by establishment of Moretto's first sales subsidiary in the country in Columbus, Ohio, in September 2014. An office in Russia will open in 2015, he said.
And it is in the U.S. where Moretto has a Eureka reference customer in the form of a carpet producer with 102 production sites in the country consuming 7.9 million tons per year of PET, which has installed a Eureka system consisting of an unspecified number of X Max 918 driers and 32 OTX units. The system dries 5,000 to 6,000 kilograms per hour of virgin and recycled plastic, and has led to Moretto to claim it as “the worldwide largest installed system for drying plastics.”
The U.S. carpet producer had compared performance with a competitor using conventional drying equipment, confirming 56 percent energy consumption saving in the company's drying processes, accounting for a 24 percent reduction of the company's overall energy consumption.
Renato Moretto stated in Friedrichshafen that the usual business approach is for Moretto to contractually commit to the customer's level of energy saving to be achieved, following studies by independent “energy agencies.”
In conclusion, Renato Moretto said, “In my professional life, I have never seen such an important project as Eureka, so we are applying all of our forces to introduce it to customers.”
One way in which the company is bringing its expertise and products to customers was very visible at Fakuma 2014, as the company had not only a booth in one of the exhibition halls, but also a truck in Moretto's corporate red color in the open area between the halls which was filled with Moretto equipment and interested Fakuma visitors.
Fakuma 2014 was described by Moretto as “just the first stop-over” of the “Moretto in Motion” European tour. It continued after the fair in Germany and will be seen elsewhere in Europe later on.
