Plastic Processing Equipment
Find innovative production technology for making plastics and connect directly with world-leading specialists.
Which plastics equipment do you need?
Self-cleaning candle filtration system
Separating solids from liquids by filtration requires frequent cleaning or replacemen…
Complete pellet line
Large industries are shifting towards more environment-friendly technology, such as recycling wastes and …
Industrial pellet mill
At the industrial level, the application areas of pellets range widely in fields such as feeds, biomass…
Classifier mill for recovered carbon black
Recovered Carbon Black (rCB) can be recycled back to the tire production chain a…
Macro ingredient dosing system
Traditional dosing systems do not have a very long operational life and are hard and expensive…
DAF wastewater treatment
The food and beverage industry requires the total removal of suspended solids (TSS), biochemical oxyg…
Pelleting line for manure fertilizer
Manure fertilizer needs to be made marketable by making them visually attractive, with …
High pressure air powered laboratory homogenizer
Offering lab-scale to small pharmaceutical production scale output for in …
Tumble dryer for granulated plastics
Vacuum drying at high temperatures is important in the production of granulated plastic…
Feeder with flexible wall hopper
The varying properties of dry powder products mean that specialized feeders are required for…
Hygienic FIBC handling line
There are many considerations when handling FIBC's (Flexible Intermediate Bulk Containers) or Big…
Laboratory aerator for food products
Successful innovators in the food, chemicals, and plastics industries need reliable mix…
Laboratory granule dedusting analyzer
High quality clean bulk materials are used in many industries including plastics, food…
Small scale deduster for plastic granules
Industries that use bulk plastics see better product quality and decreased equipm…
Deduster for injection moulding
High quality injection molded plastic parts require clean bulk resins free of dust and stream…
Pilot multi-stage distiller
If generating an scalable data and bring in results with small sample quantities of high-boiling,…
Laboratory multi-stage distiller
A laboratory multi-stage distillers that combines the wiped film and short path distillation…
Laboratory wiped film distiller
Reach reliable conclusions testing the distillation of high-boiling or highly viscous materia…
Short path evaporators
With short path distillation, a substantial decrease of boiling temperature is obtained by reducing the…
Wiped film evaporator
With wiped film distillation, a substantial decrease of boiling temperature is obtained by reducing the …
Pelleting press with overhead drive
Production of certain pelletized products requires working with output products of a pas…
Small scale pelleting press
Many industries require reliable pelletizing equipment with smaller scale production capacities. …
Laboratory high shear impact mixer
A Laboratory high shear impact mixer can be used to simulate different processes; from sl…
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Laboratory scale active freeze dryer
The laboratory-scale active freeze-drying is used for dehydrating high-value products t…
Active freeze dryer
Freeze-drying is used for dehydrating high-value products that are too sensitive for conventional drying p…
Continuous high impact mixer
A high-impact mixer can help you to produce a homogeneous mixture when you are mixing powders an…
Pusher centrifuge
Pusher centrifuges are continuously operating filter centrifuges and can have several basket stages dependin…
Laboratory mill for small batches
The Alpine Picoline is a series of miniature laboratory machines for processing samples do…
Pelleting machine
Form pellets with the uniform length for a dust-free, cylindrical granulate, pellets with smooth surface and…
Spiral jet mill
Jet mills are frequently used in the pharmaceutical industry and also for the production of fine-grade chemical…
Polymer line granulator
When it comes to the low-dust and cost-effective comminution of mouldings, blow mouldings and sprues a…
Fine cutting mill
When you want to mill soft to medium-hard plastics in the fineness range of several hundred µm to 2 mm, a fi…
Compact granulator for cuttable products
When working with plastics, film, and other cuttable products, you can benefit from…
Large granulator
When high cutting forces and high throughput are required, you need a granulator that has proven its reliabili…
Hammer mill
A hammer mill crushes aggregate material into smaller pieces; the most common applications can be found in food, ch…
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Self-cleaning candle filtration system
Separating solids from liquids by filtration requires frequent cleaning or replacemen…
Complete pellet line
Large industries are shifting towards more environment-friendly technology, such as recycling wastes and …
Industrial pellet mill
At the industrial level, the application areas of pellets range widely in fields such as feeds, biomass…
Classifier mill for recovered carbon black
Recovered Carbon Black (rCB) can be recycled back to the tire production chain a…
Macro ingredient dosing system
Traditional dosing systems do not have a very long operational life and are hard and expensive…
DAF wastewater treatment
The food and beverage industry requires the total removal of suspended solids (TSS), biochemical oxyg…
Pelleting line for manure fertilizer
Manure fertilizer needs to be made marketable by making them visually attractive, with …
High pressure air powered laboratory homogenizer
Offering lab-scale to small pharmaceutical production scale output for in …
Tumble dryer for granulated plastics
Vacuum drying at high temperatures is important in the production of granulated plastic…
Feeder with flexible wall hopper
The varying properties of dry powder products mean that specialized feeders are required for…
Hygienic FIBC handling line
There are many considerations when handling FIBC's (Flexible Intermediate Bulk Containers) or Big…
Laboratory aerator for food products
Successful innovators in the food, chemicals, and plastics industries need reliable mix…
Laboratory granule dedusting analyzer
High quality clean bulk materials are used in many industries including plastics, food…
Small scale deduster for plastic granules
Industries that use bulk plastics see better product quality and decreased equipm…
Deduster for injection moulding
High quality injection molded plastic parts require clean bulk resins free of dust and stream…
Pilot multi-stage distiller
If generating an scalable data and bring in results with small sample quantities of high-boiling,…
Laboratory multi-stage distiller
A laboratory multi-stage distillers that combines the wiped film and short path distillation…
Laboratory wiped film distiller
Reach reliable conclusions testing the distillation of high-boiling or highly viscous materia…
Short path evaporators
With short path distillation, a substantial decrease of boiling temperature is obtained by reducing the…
Wiped film evaporator
With wiped film distillation, a substantial decrease of boiling temperature is obtained by reducing the …
Pelleting press with overhead drive
Production of certain pelletized products requires working with output products of a pas…
Small scale pelleting press
Many industries require reliable pelletizing equipment with smaller scale production capacities. …
Laboratory high shear impact mixer
A Laboratory high shear impact mixer can be used to simulate different processes; from sl…
Laboratory scale active freeze dryer
The laboratory-scale active freeze-drying is used for dehydrating high-value products t…
Active freeze dryer
Freeze-drying is used for dehydrating high-value products that are too sensitive for conventional drying p…
Continuous high impact mixer
A high-impact mixer can help you to produce a homogeneous mixture when you are mixing powders an…
Pusher centrifuge
Pusher centrifuges are continuously operating filter centrifuges and can have several basket stages dependin…
Laboratory mill for small batches
The Alpine Picoline is a series of miniature laboratory machines for processing samples do…
Pelleting machine
Form pellets with the uniform length for a dust-free, cylindrical granulate, pellets with smooth surface and…
Spiral jet mill
Jet mills are frequently used in the pharmaceutical industry and also for the production of fine-grade chemical…
Polymer line granulator
When it comes to the low-dust and cost-effective comminution of mouldings, blow mouldings and sprues a…
Fine cutting mill
When you want to mill soft to medium-hard plastics in the fineness range of several hundred µm to 2 mm, a fi…
Compact granulator for cuttable products
When working with plastics, film, and other cuttable products, you can benefit from…
Large granulator
When high cutting forces and high throughput are required, you need a granulator that has proven its reliabili…
Hammer mill
A hammer mill crushes aggregate material into smaller pieces; the most common applications can be found in food, ch…
Long gap mill
Ideal for a combined process operation where several process steps are executed simultaneously in one single unit…
Stories about plastics
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Contact usWhat are you making?
Making plastics – from crude oil to plastic pellets
Although originally a natural product, nowadays plastic is mostly synthetic and widely produced. The production starts with extracting oil from the underground with the help of pumps that produce between 5 and 40 liters of oil per stroke, which is then transported to an oil refiner through pipelines. The crud oil is poured into preheater, where it is boiled and sent to a furnace. There, according to its molecular weight, oil is separated into several groups of chemicals — petroleum, gasoline, paraffin, etc.
For plastic manufacturing, what’s essential is naphtha. Naphta has to be broken down into smaller units in a cracking process to get ethene. There are two types of cracking processes. Stem cracking is done at high temperatures and pressure, which is not required for catalytic cracking, which uses catalyst instead. Ethene is forwarded into a reaction chamber where the process of polymerization links the hydrocarbon monomers together into thick, viscous substances used to make plastics. The resulting product, polythene, is processed into strings in an extruder before being ground into pellets dispatched to factories to be molded into end products using various plastic machinery.
Plastic processing equipment and transformation of pellets into usable products
Forming usable plastic products, for instance, bottles, hoses, or toys, is executed using various processes: compounding, forming, thermoforming, extrusion and molding. Compounding is the first step – mixing liquids with other ingredients according to the desired recipe in conventional stirred tanks. Other essential plastic processing equipment includes two types of mixers; the workhorse mixer, which applies heat and pressure simultaneously, and the Banbury mixer which reminds of a robust dough mixer with two interrupted spiral rotors.
The next step is forming plastics into various shapes by melting, shaping, and solidifying. Extrusion and molding processes create finished or semi-finished products. During extrusion, the melted polymer is continuously forced through an orifice in an extruder for products such as sheets, tubing, and grocery bags. Various types of molding rely on molds to create the desired shape.
To illustrate, rotational molding produces large, hollow products such as kayaks. On the contrary, blow molding is used for small hollow pieces – bottles or fuel tanks. With compression molding, plastic parts can replace metal in the automotive industry. Finally, the most common type, injection molding, has virtually limitless uses with a large production capacity.
Classification of plastics
Plastics are classified according to their unique properties acquired during production processes. The main classification is based on how plastic responds to heat – it is differentiated between thermoplastics and thermosets. Thermoplastics are more common than thermosets. They can be heated without burning, melted, cooled and reheated without losing their properties. On the other hand, thermosets can be heated only, typically during injection molding, once due to irreversible chemical changes.
Any further heating would result in burning. For this reason, thermosets are not recycling-friendly. Further categorization is between amorphous, also known as shapeless, material and semi-crystalline material. While the former gradually softens when exposed to heat, the latter maintains its shape until a certain temperature point, when it rapidly becomes liquid. Finally, according to their monomer composition, plastics can be classified as homopolymers, made of a single type of monomer, or, on the contrary, copolymers.
Bioplastics, biodegradable plastics and recycled plastics – ecological alternatives?
The environmental effects of plastic are a widely known topic. It takes up to 450 years for a plastic bottle and 50 to 80 years for a plastic cup to decompose. Alternatives to traditional plastics are biodegradable, bio-based and recycled plastics. Biodegradable plastics are made of petrochemicals but degraded by microorganisms. However, it can be safely done under warm conditions; otherwise, it degrades into harmful microplastic.
Bioplastic is sourced from renewable natural materials (corn, sugarcane, cellulose), which are compostable. The downside is that using food sources, as well as that, owing to chemical and mechanical differences, can be challenging to recycle. Finally, recycled plastic does not exploit raw material, but it can be used only to produce lower-grade products. Furthermore, it uses energy, water and emits gases. However, it is important to recycle already existing materials as replacing them with mass production of non-reusable lower-quality products is not the ideal solution either.
Green innovations - plastic-eating waxworms
Considering that bioplastics, biodegradable plastics and recycled plastics have downsides, scientists from Canada’s Brandon University have found a unique possible solution. Namely, they discovered that waxworms could live off polyethylene. Their guts contain bacteria that biodegrade plastics and turn them into glycol. In the lab-controlled environment, 60 waxworms can eat more than 30 square centimeters of a plastic bag in less than a week. While it is unrealistic to expect that waxworms can solve the plastic pollution issue, understanding the symbiosis of waxworms and gut bacteria could lead to the development of better plastic biodegradation systems.