Extrusion International 5-2017

PREVIEW 42 Extrusion International 5/2017 HERBOLD’s main emphasis in recycling Herbold Meckesheim is a family business based in Northern Baden. Herbold’s scope of supply includes single machines and plants for size reduction and agglomeration of clean plastics waste. Herbold’s scope of supply is also comprised of single machines and plants for size reducing, washing, separating, drying, and agglomerating contaminated, mixed post-consumer plastics. Special emphasis is on high-performance plants, i.e. over 3 t/h for rigid plastics or over 1 t/h for films which have recently seen a growing demand. An- other focus is on extremely thin films that are par- ticularly difficult to wash, separate and dry. A third key aspect is in regard to extreme contaminations, such as sand, stones and soil in agricultural film, or remaining acid in battery cases. A further focus is on energy-saving recycling of PET bottles for bottle- to-bottle applications. Another emphasis is on Her- bold’s great experience and the diversified scope of supply for retrofitting, upgrading, modernizing and refurbishing existing washing lines that have reached their limits. Compacting of PET carpet waste from the production of interior linings for cars with the help of the Herbold Plastcompactor During the production of textile interior car linings, production waste arises in the form of edge trims and faulty parts. It is high-quality waste, generally PET and very voluminous. HERBOLD MECKESHEIM has delivered a turnkey re- cycling concept to an internationally leading auto- motive supplier for the recycling of this scrap. The boxes used for transporting the scrap from the production plant to the recycling plant are automat- ically emptied and pre-shred in a special granulator. The Herbold HB series granulator can cope with the complete contents of a box; with the help of a hy- draulic ram, the material is fed to the granulator’s rotor in portions and load-controlled. After size reduction, the material ground to a size of 20-25 mm and in the current state very soft and fluffy is fed to a HERBOLD plastcompactor. There the material is slightly compacted between two grooved discs equipped with kneading bars and the final par- ticle size is achieved with a secondary granulator. The bulk density is increased from approx. 30 g/l to approx. 300 g/l; the good flowing properties allow a return of the material directly to the production pro- cess. Due to a particularly gentle recycling, where the IV-value (viscosity) remains almost unchanged, the material can be added to new materials without any restrictions. Optimized anti-wear protection for granulators For abrasive materials, such as glass fiber reinforced materials, HerboldMeckesheimoffers wear-protect- ed rotors for granulators and a chamber equipped with exchangeable wear parts. This offers consider- able cost saving compared to time-consuming ar- mour-plating of housing and rotor. Fig. 1: Hydrocyclone principle