Making Recycled Plastic
Find innovative production technology for making recycled plastic and connect directly with world-leading specialists
The ubiquitous plastic shopping bag was first designed as a reusable carrier. Its inventor, Sten Gustaf Thulin, will have been appalled to see his creation turn into a single-use object. But this disposable tendency is common to all plastic materials, from screw taps to milk carton lining. With plastic recycling equipment, however, plastic waste can be reprocessed and given a second lease of life.
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Treat polyolefins with heat to depolymerize the plastic material
Plastics are synthetic organic polymers than be broken into the basic monomers and reconstructed into new material. The most widespread type of plastics, polyolefins, can be chemically depolymerized at high temperatures.
Heat the polymers to 380-480°C in a fluid bed heater until the chains start cracking and turn into gas. The monomer vapor is collected in a condenser and returned to liquid. Use catalysts like kaolin, quartz, or zeolite to improve heat transfer and decrease the temperature required for cracking.
Mix additives in the recycling system to produce plastic pellets
The clean monomers are ready to be refabricated into new plastic material. Melt the material through an extruder to produce plastic pellets.
Depending on the intended use of the end product, the raw material feed can be compounded with other additives such as fire-retardants, impact-absorbers, or colorings. Pellets from recycled plastic are a suitable base to manufacture masterbatches for the industry.
Use a twin-screw extruder for tighter control over the pelletizing process
Polymer modelling of plastics follows a similar sequence whether it is manufactured through a single-screw or twin-screw extruder. However, a co-rotating twin screw extruder allows greater control over the plasticating process.
As the feed material travels along the screw, friction forces and heat transfer from the barrel begin melting it. This process accumulates in a melt pool nearer to the inner barrel, where the polymer is subjected to increasing pressure and flows out through the die.
Separate the feed with specialized plastic waste processing equipment
Plastic types, for example HDPE, PVC and PET, all behave in different ways when subjected to mechanical and chemical processing. Separate the primary material into the right streams to prevent contamination down the plastic recycling production line.
A sink-float separator classifies the pieces by density. High-density plastic polymers sink when conveyed to a water-filled tank, whereas low-density pieces float. An alternative method is an optic scanner that sorts plastic pieces according to their capacity to absorb light.
Grind the plastic to improve the recycling process
Resize the feed material into uniform dimensions to prepare it for processing. Grind the plastic into flakes or filaments by passing the pieces through a shredder.
Besides making the stream more workable, reducing the size of the stream makes it easier to pick out impurities during the washing line stage. Contaminants such as metals or adhesive chemicals could compromise the quality of the final product. But resizing the feed material facilitates the segregation of valuable plastic from undesired particles.
Processing steps involved in recycled plastic making
Which recycled plastic technology do you need?
Industrial granulators for plastic recycling
Efficient and reliable size reduction of plastic waste is critical in the rec...
Filtration compounder for polymer recycling
In the recycling industry, processing post-consumer recyclate (PCR) and highly...
Occ screen for separating large cardboard
In recycling and waste management facilities, the efficient separation of large ...
Optimize optical sorter performance
In recycling facilities, maintaining high efficiency in sorting materials is crucial fo...
Air drum separator for heavy and light material separation
In the recycling industry, efficiently separating heavy and l...
Optical analytics tool for material flow and composition
In materials recovery facilities (MRFs) dealing with variable in...
Powder hopper loaders for free-flowing materials
When conveying free-flowing powder materials like PVC and PE or dusty reg...
Heating system for sustainable moulded pulp packaging
In the packaging industry, producing sustainable and recyclable sol...
Self-cleaning candle filtration system
Separating solids from liquids by filtration requires frequent cleaning or replaceme...
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, biomas...
Industrial drying cabinet
The production of high-quality biltong and similar dried meat products can pose problems with main...
Recirculating batch dryer
Drying can be the most energy and time-consuming process in the food industry. This can have an ef...
Shell and tube heat exchanger
Heating, cooling and tempering are important processes in the production of many products acro...
Pellet hardness tester
Control the quality of your pelletizing processes using a pellet hardness tester. Pellet hardness is o...
Hygienic FIBC handling line
There are many considerations when handling FIBC’s (Flexible Intermediate Bulk Containers)...
Solid biomass screening and crushing equipment
Biomass fuels come in many forms and often include impurities that can dama...
Robot palletizer
Palletize up to 1,800 large industrial bags per hour at a multi-pick-up configuration.
Pusher centrifuge
Pusher centrifuges are continuously operating filter centrifuges and can have several basket stages dependi...
Reclaim crusher
Waste products and rejected materials are inevitably generated from any gypsum products manufacturing process....
Extruder with annular gap expander
Products can be extruded with various shapes and characteristics by controlling the nozz...
Laboratory extruder
Products can be extruded with a variety of shapes and characteristics by controlling the nozzle geometry ...
Pelleting press with overhead drive
Production of certain pelletized products requires working with output products of a pa...