Highly flexible twin-compound line for use in upcycling

Recy­cling and upcy­cling process­es are becom­ing increas­ing­ly com­plex and demand­ing. Sev­er­al sys­tems or com­plex con­ver­sion process­es (e.g. replac­ing entire screw ele­ments) are required to process dif­fer­ent plas­tics and addi­tives. MAS twin-com­pound lines stand out thanks to their high flex­i­bil­i­ty and qual­i­ty, and are able to mas­ter even the great­est chal­lenges. This was recent­ly put to the test dur­ing the devel­op­ment of a high­ly com­plex cus­tomer line.  

Countless materials in one line

Mex­i­can upcy­cling com­pa­ny GT+materials, which already suc­cess­ful­ly uses MAS 24 lab­o­ra­to­ry equip­ment with under­wa­ter pel­letiz­ing, com­mis­sioned a sys­tem that would cov­er a very wide range of plas­tics and mix­tures in a sin­gle line after ini­tial con­tact with the MAS tech­ni­cal cen­ter in Octo­ber 2021. This would have been impos­si­ble with­out exten­sive con­ver­sions and down­times until recent­ly, and it pre­sent­ed the MAS experts with an excit­ing chal­lenge.
Among oth­er things, the plas­tics PE, PPE, ABS, PS, PA, HDPE, LLDPE and HIPS were to be processed with up to 24 mate­ri­als (includ­ing cal­ci­um, talc, Fire­Mas­ter, glass fiber, wol­las­tonite, and flame retar­dants) to achieve the high­est recy­cled pel­let qual­i­ty with indi­vid­ual prop­er­ties made to mea­sure. This job demand­ed every­thing from the tech­ni­cians and devel­op­ers to dose so many dif­fer­ent plas­tic frac­tions.  

Successful MAS innovation

At the end of 2023, the line was final­ly accept­ed after exten­sive test­ing, with com­mis­sion­ing fol­low­ing in spring 2024. While lines are nor­mal­ly only sold for one or two dif­fer­ent mate­ri­als, MAS suc­ceed­ed in com­bin­ing a wealth of dif­fer­ent mix­tures and addi­tives in a twin-com­pound line; fur­ther proof of the high lev­el of inno­va­tion of the upcy­cling experts. Ulti­mate­ly, the cus­tomer only has to change the tem­per­a­ture for the dif­fer­ent plas­tics and addi­tives in the pro­gram and load the respec­tive mix­tures and mate­ri­als. This has sig­nif­i­cant­ly min­i­mized the time lost by sim­ply chang­ing para­me­ters with­out any phys­i­cal con­ver­sion. The MAS twin-com­pound line cov­ers all cus­tomer require­ments and a very exten­sive range of mate­ri­als in a sin­gle line, stand­ing out with even greater, unique flex­i­bil­i­ty. stand­ing out with even greater, unique flex­i­bil­i­ty.

What’s behind the twin-compound innovation

Re-gran­u­lat­ed plas­tic frac­tions enable the tar­get­ed mod­i­fi­ca­tion of prop­er­ties for opti­mized fur­ther pro­cess­ing. Twin-com­pound lines are made up of two con­i­cal­ly co-rotat­ing twin-screw extrud­ers and an inter­stage CDF melt fil­ter. High-qual­i­ty addi­tives and fillers can there­fore be added before and after the fil­tra­tion process—ideal for mate­ri­als that are incom­pat­i­ble. The gen­tle addi­tion after the CDF melt fil­ter also means that the prop­er­ties of par­tic­u­lar­ly valu­able, high­ly spe­cial­ized additives—such as glass fibers, car­bon fibers, and glass beads—are ful­ly retained. This results in tai­lor-made upcy­cling prod­ucts dis­tin­guished by a max­i­mum lev­el of indi­vid­u­al­iza­tion and out­stand­ing qual­i­ty.  

Why twin-compound?

• High-qual­i­ty regran­u­la­tion: Twin-com­pound lines can even be suc­cess­ful­ly used for mate­ri­als that are dif­fi­cult to degas
• Extend­ed mate­r­i­al addi­tion: Chem­i­cals and addi­tives can be added before and after the melt fil­ter. Ide­al for sub­stances that are incom­pat­i­ble and/or can­not be fil­tered.
• Homog­e­niza­tion: Fluc­tu­at­ing input qual­i­ties of dif­fer­ent recy­cling frac­tions are suc­cess­ful­ly bal­anced and quick­ly homog­e­nized
• Mul­ti-lev­el blend­ing: Top-qual­i­ty out­put gen­er­at­ed from addi­tives
• Ener­gy effi­cien­cy: Low tem­per­a­ture, low shear, gen­tle treat­ment

Indi­vid­u­al­ized twin-com­pound lines meet the high­est demands and mas­ter even the great­est chal­lenges with plas­tic frac­tions and addi­tives. Our experts will advise you on the var­i­ous pos­si­ble appli­ca­tions and cus­tomiza­tion options and will find the right solu­tion for your spe­cif­ic appli­ca­tion. We look for­ward to hear­ing from you!

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