New plastic extrusion machine for a Moroccan SME specialized in the automotive plastic industry.

SONOFET is a Moroccan SME has been established in Morocco since 2004, specialized in the production of polyethylene (PE) bags and films for various sectors, primarily focusing on the automotive industry, the company operates two major production lines for welding and extrusion.

To enhance its production capabilities and meet the quality requirements of its clients, SONOFET requested financing and technical assistance from the Green Value Chain (GVC) programme to replace an old production machine ant to invest in a new, state-of-the-art extrusion machine. This machine is designed to achieve energy savings of over 27% compared to the old existing machine, which dates from 2005. This improvement is made possible by its high energy performance, with a specific consumption of 0.6 kWh/kg, compared to the 0.77 kWh/kg consumption of the previous machine.

Furthermore, the new machine adopts the ABC model, which consists of three extrusion layers (A, B, and C). This configuration enables the integration of waste into the intermediate layer of the film without affecting the quality of the products or the technical specifications. This capability allows for the recycling of 100% of the company’s PE waste, amounting to 30 tons per month.

The new machine has achieved more than 27% of electrical energy savings compared to the baseline. In addition, the new machine adopts the ABC model with three layers presents a high-power density, this capacity allows recycling 100% of the polyethylene waste. This new investment enabled the company to further improve its competitiveness and penetrate new markets while minimizing its energy consumption by 208 MWh/year of electrical energy corresponding to 27 % savings and reduction in CO2 emissions by 800 TCO2 annually. The payback period is evaluated at 3.36 years due to the gains in productivity and the energy/raw material savings of 360 tons per year.

Green Value Chain (GVC) in Morocco is a credit facility of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to provide funding to local partner financial institutions for on-lending to Moroccan SMEs belonging to agribusiness, processing industries and logistics value chains and ecosystems. Supported by the European Union, the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Korean Technical Assistance and Cooperation Account (KTACA) and the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund (EBRD SSF), the facility aims to improve competitiveness of SMEs and that of their value chains and ecosystems through highly efficient green investments.