TECHNOLOGY | SIZE REDUCTION


are available for changing blades, maintaining V-belts and cleaning the granulator quickly and efficiently, for example,” says Hellweg. “Checking of the V-belt pre-tensioning force is also explained, which can be carried out with a test device that is included with the delivery. Further instructions are provided for performing a recommended visual inspection. Fast spare parts management can be achieved, as smart control allows you to monitor the state of the cutting blades and sieves in use, for example. A visible alarm informs the operator of the necessity for a replacement due to wear. An active V-belt monitoring system automatically switches off the granulator in the event of a deviation from the nominal value. An automated enquiry system is also integrated within Granumaster smart control that issues requests for quotations for spare parts, such as blades, sieves and V-belts, directly from the manufacturers.” Dreher Granulators sees a growing market for


granulators in plastics recycling, particularly for post-consumer plastics such as PET bottles and used agriculture film. The company adds that saving energy and operating costs, as well as designing flexible and wet/dry granulator systems, are current technical issues driving new developments. Wet granulation and the processing of large blocks of plastics are also topics of interest at present. “Dreher Granulators are well-known for perfor- mance and solid construction,” says Louis Hartel, Sales Manager. “As a result of a reliable cutting action and fast rotor cutting blade replacement


Right: The Dreher DX 34/65 is a flexible, mid-size granulator


and cleaning, we are able to offer efficient and economical granulators for a wide range of applications including in-house granulation, blow and injection moulding, thermoforming, film-extru- sion, as well as post-consumer waste. The DX 34/65 is the company’s latest development, which is a flexible and mid-size granulator. It offers reduced energy consumption and costs, less time needed for maintenance, and also guarantees a much easier and safer procedure for the operator when changing and adjusting the cutting knives.” He says: “Other recent developments include


the VD1100, a combination shredder and granula- tor, and the SRV heavy duty granulator. The SRV can process lumps of up to 400 kg, with a throughput rate of up to 4,500 kg/h by using a 12 mm screen. It offers a working width from 410 to 1,600 mm and main drives from 15 up to 350 kW. Operating with a solid lifetime-balanced rotor for effective recy- cling, SRV granulators offer heavy duty granulation with a large power reserve.”


Post-industrial focus Conair highlights that in the granulators market for commercial plastics recycling, it is necessary to make a distinction between post-consumer and post-industrial waste. “I think that you need to look at them as two very different markets,” says Dave Miller, General Manager, Size-Reduction. “In post-consumer, you are often dealing with dirty ma- terial and need to be pretty specialised to handle it. In addition, this market is not particularly good at present, except with companies that have made a commitment to use a certain percentage of post-consumer resin. I am sure there are some companies using granulators to handle post-con- sumer scrap, but we do not see that very often at Conair. We are much more likely to sell shredders into that market and have three different lines of shredders ranging from general-purpose models to our Ultra Series, which are designed to handle large quantities of bulk scrap materials efficiently.” Miller continues: “We are more likely to work


with recyclers of post-industrial scrap, offering both shredders and granulators. However, in reality, this is not that much different from in-process recycling, since the materials you are dealing with are usually quite uniform and clean. The post-industrial processors just tend to handle much higher volumes that plastics processors. This leads them to use equipment that can handle large quantities easily, like shredders and larger granulators such as the Conair Viper line, which can process up to 6,000 kg/h (13,200 lb/h).” Introduced into the market in 2018, the Conair


18 PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | November/December 2020 www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com


IMAGE: DREHER


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