MACHINERY | PELLETISERS
In addition, the company has updated the design of its cantilever 100 and 200mm wide pelletisers to offer a more cost-effective option. “This new design gives nothing up in the way of performance,” Forgash says. “In fact the reduced gap between the feed rolls and cutting surface allows for better pellet production from the previous design.”
Optimised cooling Coperion has its own operation for creating individual customer solutions based on strand pelletising, Coperion Pelletizing Technology. One of its core areas of process know-how is its cooling trough design, says Raphael Strehle, Head of Sales. To ensure optimal cooling of the strands, the Type CT version can support multiple temperature zone water baths. The basic working principle is to draw the strands through the trough via rotating grooved guide rolls. Each zone is fed with tempera- ture-controlled process water, which flows with the strand movement direction. A weir is used to maintain the water level and cooled strands are wiped using a stripper brush system. Strehle says the main benefit of this arrange- ment is to “allow more flexibility by different temperature profiles, show a higher gentle treat- ment of the strands, and improve the final product quality, such as removal of air pockets and an improved rectangular cutting result. The number of strands and the cooling length are individually adapted to the product. Strand guide rolls are available in different materials.”
Underwater solution Coperion teamed up with Nordson BKG for a recent turnkey compounding project that required an underwater pelletising system. The fellow German company provided a complete package of downstream components custom-engineered (as
This schematic shows the working principle of Coperion Pelletizing Technology’s strand pelletiser cooling trough. The company says the use of multiple independently controlled zones allows a custom temperature profile to be developed to optimise pellet quality Source: Coperion
were the Coperion elements) for production of inherently dissipative polymers – IDPs – at Finnish company IonPhasE. IDPs are polymer additives offering permanent antistatic properties. The IonPhasE compounding plant encompasses all phases of production, including drying, convey- ing, and feeding of raw materials, twin-screw extrusion, pelletising, and bagging. The pelletising segment contributed by Nordson is an integrated package of various BKG products, comprising gear pump, screen changer, polymer diverter valve, underwater pelletiser, and tempered water system with centrifugal pellet dryer. Steffen Bader, Head of Compounding Plant sales
Above: This turnkey compounding line was supplied to Finnish conduc- tive polymer producer IonPhasE. It uses an underwater pelletiser supplied by Nordson BKG
22 COMPOUNDING WORLD | January 2018
for Coperion, says that Nordson optimised the flow channels of the BKG components to ensure constant product flow and gentle handling of the material at the full required throughput range. The design output of the plant is up to 500 kg/h. Nordson considers itself unusual as a supplier of pelletisers in that it also produces a full range of downstream melt delivery components, according to Frank Asmuss, Global Product Manager for BKG pelletising systems. “Our single-sourcing capability is especially important for customers like IonPhasE, whose unique products have complex formulations and must meet critical end-use requirements,” he says. “Based on tests of the customer’s materials at our technology centre in Münster, we can optimise the performance of all of our components in accordance with the melt properties of those materials, even taking into account the many possible recipe variations anticipated by the customer.” As an example of the interaction of the BKG system components, Asmuss highlights the role of the melt pump, which generates the pressure needed for the screen changer and pelletiser without creating too much shear or excessively high melt temperatures.
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PHOTO: COPERION
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