Extrusion International 5-2022

56 Extrusion International 5/2022 K 2022 reduce the time needed for recipe changes or maintenance tasks, since they can easily be removed from the process section in just a few steps. A K3-ML-D5-V200 vibratory feeder from Coperion K-Tron will be on display at the main intake of the ZSK 70 Mc18. The ZS-B easy will be equipped with a K-ML-SFS-BSP-100 Bulk Solids Pump™ (BSP) feeder. Another highlight at the Coperion booth will be the STS Mc11 series lab- oratory extruder with a 25 mm screw diameter. It stands out with its simple design, user friendliness and easy cleaning. Its Do/Di of 1.55 and specific torque Md/a3 of 11.3 Nm/cm3 allow for safe scale-up across the entire STS Mc11 series. The STS 25 Mc11 will be exhibited with a Coperion K-Tron K- ML-SFS-KT20 twin screw feeder. Moreover, the new, preconfigured ProRate PLUS feeder line will be avail- able to view in all three available sizes: small, medium, and large. This continu- ous gravimetric feeder from Coperion K-Tron is very robust, and thanks to its good price-performance ratio is an economical solution for reliable feed- ing of free-flowing bulk materials. The SP series dual bearing strand pelletizers have been given a com- prehensive facelift; Coperion’s SP340 model will represent this develop- ment at the K booth. In comparison to the previousmodel, the newSP strand pelletizer allows even faster recipe and color changes. The cutting chamber works with absolutely no dead space; thanks to its quick-release function, the cutting unit can be swapped out quickly and easily. The pelletizer’s in- terior has improved accessibility and is very easy to clean. One further highlight of Coperion’s showing at K 2022 will be the ZXQ 800 rotary valve. This high performance valve, which works with especially low gas leakage, was developed by Co- perion especially for powder intake into pneumatic conveying lines at up to 3.5 bar. Thanks to its enormous ca- pacity, it is very well suited for systems planned for polyolefin manufacturing in the future. As a rawmaterial, plastic can make a valuable contribution to environmen- tal protection and to the energy revo- lution. Key to both is the efficient recy - cling of plastics. For this reason, plastics recycling is the focus of comprehensive development projects at Coperion. The company will show the results of these projects at K 2022 in its pavilion on the open-air fairgrounds (CE09) within the VDMA Circular Economy Forum. There, Coperion will present its combined process solutions and tech- nologies for the economical recycling of various plastics while achieving the highest levels of product quality. At the center will be a systembuilt around a ZSK 58 Mc18 twin screw extruder configured for manufacturing high- quality PET using recycled materials. For feeding voluminous flakes and fibers (PET and other plastics) effi - ciently into the ZSK twin screw extrud - er, Coperion will show the SWB-300 Smart Weigh Belt Feeder with a S100 single screw pre-feeder, as well as the new ZS-B 70 MEGAfeed side feeder. The SWB is an extremely reliable gravi - metric feeder from Coperion K-Tron that can process large volumes of bulk materials with a wide variety of flow properties at very high accuracy. Us- ing the innovative, newly developed Coperion ZS-B MEGAfeed, plastic recy - clate with a bulk density under 200 kg/ m³, long considered intake-limited and thus not worth recycling, can be reli- ably fed in large quantities into smaller sizes of Coperion’s ZSK twin screw ex - truders and be concurrently recycled and compounded. Melting, intensive devolatilization, and complete homogenization take place in the process section of the ZSK 58 Mc18, before the material stream is transferred via a gear pump and filter with an automatic screen pack changer to an underwater pelletizer for pellet production. Finally, the pellets are con- densed in the SSP (Solid State Polycon- densation) reactor and can then be processed again into bottles, fibers, or films. The high quality of recycled PET manufactured using this innova- tive Coperion process was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for direct contact with food (let- ter of non-objection). Conventional technologies for re- cycling PET require pre-drying and crystallization of flakes and fibers before they can be re-processed. Us- ing Coperion's technological process solution, PET recyclate can be intro- The ZSK 70 Mc18 twin screw extruder that Coperion is presenting at K 2022 has a 70 mm screw diameter and is equipped with numerous features that improve handling and enable increased efficiency in compounding and recycling (Photo: Coperion, Germany) Thanks to its high intake potential, the recycling of plastic fiber and flake using the newly developed ZS-B MEGAfeed side feeder from Coperion becomes much more economical or even possible in the first place (Photo: Coperion, Germany)