NPE2024: The Plastics Show
Published

What to See at NPE 2006: Compounding and Mixing

Throughput capacities are going up for compounding equipment of all types.

Share

Throughput capacities are going up for compounding equipment of all types. Higher outputs generate more heat, so you’ll also see lots of equipment with enhanced cooling. Above all, you’ll see a lot of unconventional approaches to compounding that bear little resemblance to traditional mixers or twin-screw compounders. Many are designed for very high levels (80% to 85%) of mineral fillers or wood flour. Filler levels are rising because of the high cost of resin.

The latest development in Buss’s Quantec high-output kneader is an output-raising retrofit for older Buss machines in which a Quantec section, with four rows of barrel pins and four overlapping flights, replaces the mixing section with three rows of pins and three non-overlapping flights. The retrofit raises the kneader’s output by 20-25%.

Leistritz’s first North American show of its Maxx twin-screw extruder offers 30% more free volume plus enhanced cooling for higher output. Littleford Day is showing an LR 5500 cooler for the first time with a 90-psi-rated cooling jacket to allow increased water circulation. Cooling jackets are typically rated for under 15 psi. Littleford’s high-intensity mixer is also displayed with dual discharge, allowing it to feed PVC premix to two coolers instead of one for even higher throughput.

Farrel’s CP100 continuous mixer has a drive upgrade that allows higher filler levels—up to 80%. List has a twin-shaft kneader/reactor that can add up to 40% filler to silicone gum. List says it’s the only system that can do that.

Many extruder OEMs show new modular construction approaches to offering customized features more affordably. Entek ‘s modular E-Max co-rotating twin-screw machines can be easily lengthened by adding prefabricated frame extensions. Coperion’s new ZSK 32 MEGAcompounder Plus is built of modules in a frame.

Chinese connections are another route to building compounding machines more affordably. Coperion, which acquired Keya in China, will show Keya’s export-model twin-screw extruder here for the first time. Two exhibitors are Chinese machine builders with European connections. Nanjing Giant Machinery is an ISO-9001 joint venture with Pomini in Italy. It offers co-rotating twin-screw extruders, gravimetric feeders, and a new gear pump.

Guangdong Liansu Machinery is a joint venture with Dressbom GmbH, a German PVC consultant, offering conical and parallel twin-screw extruders and PVC mixing and pelletizing equipment.

 

More wood in WPCs

News in wood/plastic composites (WPCs) includes the first exhibits of several two-stage mixer-extruder combinations that yield very high wood content and start with undried flour. Lodige/Pappenmeier’s WPC compounding process uses a TSHK friction-heating mixer to coat 85% wood flour with 15% PP. The mix discharges into an HKB horizontal cooling mixer, which produces free-flowing crumbles ready for extrusion.

Draiswerke is showing a 300-hp Gelimat G25S thermokinetic mixer with increased cooling capacity to mix up to 85% mineral filler or wood-flour at up to 2000 lb/hr.

Pallmann Pulverizers is showing its unusual Palltruder here for the first time. A mid-sized PFV 400 processes up to 2500 lb/hr. It combines a single-screw frictional-heat mixer with a die plate and granulator knives to produce free-flowing granules containing up to 85% wood.

 

News in testing and controls

Several test devices at the show were developed for the new European DIN-EN 13900-5 standard for melt dispersability of color compounds and masterbatches. The standard is known as the Filter Pressure Value (FPV). Exhibitors with FPV test equipment include Dr. Collin, LabTech, and Davis-Standard.

Speaking of color, JSW and FACTS Inc. are using in-line color analyzers to detect color variances and—on a developmental basis—to control letdown of colorants in an extruder. FACTS is showing a new non-contact spectrophotometer from X-rite with FACTS software for closed-loop control of color feeding. JSW is using an Equitech in-line color analyzer. 

structural foam molding chemical foaming agents
Blending Revolution
Maguire Ultra
Create custom Smartflow assemblies on-line, 24/7.
Make Every Pellet Count
NPE2024: The Plastics Show
Cranes, Conveyors, Racks, Loaders, Accessories
Konica Minolta CM-36dG
Insert molding automation
Guill - World Leader in Extrusion Tooling
Vecoplan
New Tinius Olsen VectorExtensometer testing

Related Content

Automotive

LFT-D Thrives in Automotive and Other Durables

Teijin Automotive acquires its 10th direct long-fiber thermoplastic system as demand for this technology soars.

Read More
best practices

What to Know About Your Materials When Choosing a Feeder

Feeder performance is crucial to operating extrusion and compounding lines. And consistent, reliable feeding depends in large part on selecting a feeder compatible with the materials and additives you intend to process. Follow these tips to analyze your feeder requirements.

Read More
Compounding

Sustainability Among the Many Niches at Niche Polymer

Founded in 1987, Niche Polymer continues to grow—both organically and through acquisition—by focusing its product-development efforts on ever-changing market needs. Adding value to both industrial and post-consumer scrap is a growing part of this effort.  

Read More

How to Configure Your Twin-Screw Barrel Layout

In twin-screw compounding, most engineers recognize the benefits of being able to configure screw elements. Here’s what you need to know about sequencing barrel sections.  

Read More

Read Next

Extrusion Know How

Understanding Melting in Single-Screw Extruders

You can better visualize the melting process by “flipping” the observation point so that the barrel appears to be turning clockwise around a stationary screw.

Read More
Recycling

Advanced Recycling: Beyond Pyrolysis

Consumer-product brand owners increasingly see advanced chemical recycling as a necessary complement to mechanical recycling if they are to meet ambitious goals for a circular economy in the next decade. Dozens of technology providers are developing new technologies to overcome the limitations of existing pyrolysis methods and to commercialize various alternative approaches to chemical recycling of plastics.

Read More
industry 4.0

People 4.0 – How to Get Buy-In from Your Staff for Industry 4.0 Systems

Implementing a production monitoring system as the foundation of a ‘smart factory’ is about integrating people with new technology as much as it is about integrating machines and computers. Here are tips from a company that has gone through the process.

Read More
Dri-Air