MIXERS | MACHINERY
Effective mixing is critical when creating polymer formulations – and mixer suppliers are aiming to provide this with an increasing range of high capacity, flexible systems
Getting the right mix
Within the plastics supply chain, mixers are most commonly used within the compounding sector in the creation of new formulations and compounds. However, extrusion companies that create their own formulations also need to invest in this type of capacity. For instance, US-based Northern Pipe Products – a major producer of PVC pipe based in Fargo, North Dakota – recently took delivery of a heating/ cooling mixer combination Flex-line from MTI Mischtechnik. The M2000/K8000 unit features an 8,000 litre cooling vessel and is over 7m (23ft) long and nearly 5m (16.5ft) high. Installing the system will almost double mixing capacity at the customer’s site. Burkhard Wulf, area sales manager at MTI, said:
“We have seen a trend towards increasing produc- tion volumes in the US market for some time.” MTI says this is the largest heating/cooling mixer
combination it has ever supplied to the USA. The M2000/K8000 is a heating/cooling mixer
combination for a typical batch volume of 950kg (around 2,100lbs). It can provide more than
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7,500kg (16,600lbs) of mixed material per hour. Designed on a modular principle, these mixers can be put to use in most applications because their sizes, drive units and equipment options can be individually configured. Northern Pipe had used an MTI heating/cooling
mixer combination – with 1,500 litres of heating mixer and 4,250 litres of cooling mixer capacity – for around 30 years, and even installed a new system as recently as 2014. “At that time, it was not possible to install a
larger system as we had already used the available floor space,” said Derek Hanson, vice president of engineering at Northern Pipe. When delivering the new larger machine, MTI modified its design, building it around the existing steelwork.
“It will overcome a real bottleneck in our plans to
expand production capacity,” said Hanson. Designed on a modular principle, the mixers can be put to use in almost any application because their sizes, drive units and equipment options can be individually configured.
� January/February 2019 | PIPE & PROFILE EXTRUSION 43
Main image: MTI has delivered an M2000/K8000 mixing unit to US-based PVC pipe producer Northern Pipe
PHOTO: MTI
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