MACHINERY | PELLETISERS
Right: TPE pellets produced at Hexpol’s plant at Lichtenfels in Germany with Maag’s Pearlo Underwater pelletising system
the existing lines, significantly reducing material consumption. Pearlo also makes cleaning the machine very easy. “This is a key criterion for Hexpol TPE because the bulk material is used, among other things, for the manufacture of children’s toys, as well as for consumer products such as seals in the caps of mineral water bottles. Contamination must be avoided at all costs in such applications,” Maag says. Meanwhile, Hexpol TPE Managing Director Dr
Peter Ryzko says: “The investment in the new extruder line equipped with Pearlo is also paying off in terms of the development of new materials.” The plant allows the production of pellets with consistent quality properties in the finished product thanks to stable temperature control, efficient degassing of the plastic melt, and exact setting of the grain sizes. Maag says that Hexpol TPE’s positive
Right: APK is using a BKG Master-Line underwater pelletiser to produce its Mersamid recycled PA resins
experience with the Pearlo underwater pelletising system has led to another line being retrofitted with Pearlo (and also a new screen changer system). A plant modernisation is also in planning for other lines at the Lichtenfels site.
Profit from waste At the APK plant at Mereseburg, Germany, a complete downstream melt processing and pelletising system from Nordson Corporation has been deployed in an innovative recycling process the company has christened “Newcycling.” According to APK, the process “carries out the dictates of the circular economy by transforming mixed and multi-layer waste into purified polymer with properties close to virgin resin.”
This first Newcycling plant, which has a capacity
of 8000 tonnes/yr, commenced commercial operation in June 2019. It is used for separating polyethylene and polyamide in a mixed feedstream of post-industrial multi-layer packaging film waste using solvation technology. The APK process takes the post- industrial waste, shreds it, then employs solvents to selectively dissolve the polymers. Liquid and solid components are separated, which purifies the polymers, and the solvent removed for reuse in the process. An extruder delivers the recovered polyamide to the BKG melt delivery and pelletising components from Nordson. The BKG
equipment includes a BlueFlow gear pump, HiCon screen changer, polymer diverter
valve, underwater pelletiser and Master-Line process water / pellet dryer system. The polyamide polymer is sold by APK under the name Mersamid. “Our Mersamid products are intended for demanding technical applications as alternatives to virgin plastics,” says Florian Riedl, Director of Business Development for APK. “Nordson’s BKG pelletising and melt delivery equipment contributes to meeting our requirement for high-quality granulates with homogeneous properties. In addition, these systems help us achieve a level of production efficiency that is consistent with our sustainability approach.” APK says it plans to build a second plant, with a capacity of 20,000 tonnes, for processing of post-consumer mixed film waste in the future.
Above: APK’s Newcycling plant at Merseburg in Germany recycles multi-layer post-industrial film using Nordson BKG pelletising technology
20 COMPOUNDING WORLD | January 2020
Customer-driven Bay Plastics Machinery points to a substantial market expansion in Europe and Asia, while it continues to support its domestic customer base in
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IMAGE: NORDSON CORP
IMAGE: MAAG IMAGE: NORDSON CORP
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