machinery | Laboratory compounders
quick-change couplers and screw shafts,” says Andy Hoffman, Pilot Plant manager at Entek. If customers need large quantities of compounded material, Entek can refer them to toll compounders; Gala Industries, for example, recently installed a 53mm Entek extruder specifically for this purpose. Entek also offers a 27mm TSE extruder for labora-
tory and small scale production. “Running small batches on a smaller extruder will reduce the overall scrap rate, thus improving efficiency. A smaller machine is easier and faster to clean,” says Hoffman. New Jersey, US-based Randcastle Extrusion
Above: An internal view of the Coperion Technical Centre at Stuttgart in Germany
production-scale equipment are said to use the same free volume and specific torque, so results gained on lab equipment can be applied to production scale machines. Laboratories for product quality analysis are associated with each of the extrusion Test Labs. In addition to the Test Labs, Coperion offers use of its simulation technology for optimising processes or designing systems. Dr Collin has two technical centers, one in Georgia in the US and another in Ebersberg in Germany. The lab and pilot-scale lines can run in direct extrusion to make end products, such as films. The company says that, while lab services are not the focus of its business, it occasionally helps customers with product development and emphasises that its global R&D team has the deep experience needed to “guide customers from an idea to a product.” Entek’s Pilot Plant is used by potential customers to see how the company’s newly introduced QC3
43mm
TSE can meet their compounding needs and by current customers for assistance with processing a new product or improving the process for an existing product. It is also used by Entek itself for evaluating new extruder components.
“The 43mm TSE is a great size for both small and large batch compounding, with new features such as
Systems provides laboratory compounding services using its batch mixer and four single-screw compound- ers, which range in size from 30 g/h to approximately 13 kg/h. The compounding equipment uses patented extensional mixing devices that mix and disperse without high shear and can be set up for direct extru- sion to downstream equipment, including cast and blown film, sheet, filament, strand, tubing, wire coating, and extrusion coating, so that companies can test end-product properties. “Companies can use the lab equipment to see if it works for their process and what the advantage is,” says Keith Luker, president of Randcastle. Some now rely on Randcastle’s laboratory for R&D and even small-scale toll compounding. “Some companies have eliminated R&D, so we provide both the equipment and the expertise,” says Luker.
Click on the links for more information: ❙
www.farrel-pomini.com ❙
www.kraussmaffeiberstorff.com ❙
www.drcollin.de ❙
www.busscorp.com ❙
www.mas-austria.com ❙
www.thermoscientific.com ❙
www.bpprocess.com ❙
www.feddem.com ❙
www.coperion.com ❙
www.entekextruders.com ❙
www.randcastle.com
Interchangeable blender offers flexibility
British Rema Process Equipment has launched an Interchangeable Blender with a capacity of 5 to 100 litres that is suitable for laboratory and small-scale production.
The equipment efficiently blends
multiple granular products, dry powders and liquids into powders, including fragile
62 COMPOUNDING WORLD | December 2016
and abrasive products of varying densities and batch sizes. The blender base can be fitted with V Cone, Double Cone, Ribbon, Octagonal and IBC blender bodies, which can be easily interchanged. An optional RFID system works with the controls package to ensure that only the correct body
dedicated to a specific product or recipe can be used; the software will not allow the blend to run if the correct blender body is not installed. In addition, cross- contamination can be eliminated by dedicating a single blender cone or section to an individual product. ❙
www.britishrema.com
www.compoundingworld.com
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