Extrusion International 4-2020

46 Extrusion International 4/2020 COMPOUNDING “The Edelweiss compounding line is now available for customer trials in our R&D centre and convinces not only by its innovative technical features, but also by the turn- key concept,” says Carl-Philip Poepel, Director of Product Management Extrusion Technology at KraussMaffei. KraussMaffei is currently investing to substantially ex- tend its capacities for customer trials and its own testing activities associated with recycling and recompounding processes. For some months now, the R&D centre at the Hanover site has been equipped with the most advanced industrial-scale recompounding system worldwide. The new EdelweissCompounding line is composed of two ZE 65 BluePower twin-screw extruders and designed for a maximum output rate of 2,000 kg/h. While it was com- mon practice in the past to combine a single-screw and a twin-screw extruder for this purpose, the use of two twin-screw extruders is a real novelty. The benefits of this solution speak for themselves: high degassing capacities, efficient odour removal, ideal dispersive and dispersing mixing effect, gentle melt treatment – and all this with almost no limits in terms of throughput rate. In the first stage, the ZE65 BluePower twin-screw ex- truder degasses the starting material and removes any adhering odorous substances. This is particularly impor- tant when recycling post-consumer waste. Odour mini- mization can be intensified by using water, nitrogen or even carbon dioxide as entrainer for degassing, which is KraussMaffei’s unique EdelweissCompounding technology stands out for excellent recompound quality at high throughput rates of several tonnes per hour. This technology is based on an established process that has been further optimized and extended by the machine engineering company. Highlights of the compounding line are the new proprietary cutter-compactor unit for pre-treating post- consumer waste of any type and the two-stage extrusion system composed of two twin-screw- extruders arranged in series for melt processing and compounding Most Modern Recompounding Line now Available at R&D Centre KraussMaffei has invested in a new Edelweiss compounding, recompounding line, which is now ready for customer trials The new EdelweissCompounding line is composed of two ZE 65 BluePower twin-screw extruders and designed for a maximumoutput rate of 2,000 kg/h