A new melt filtration system for recycling highly contaminated plastics has been developed by Nordson (Hall 9 Stand A44/48), which will discuss the new technology at K 2016 from 19-26 October.
The central concept of BKG HiCon R-Type 250 involves the use of a cylindrical “separating head” with knives arranged on its surface in a helical pattern designed to move contaminant particles forward as the head rotates.
Enclosing the head is a stationary filter element called a “strainer tube.” When contaminated melt from an entry port flows into the cylindrical space between the rotating head and the strainer tube, the knives capture the contaminant while the contaminant-free melt moves through the strainer into flow channels that lead to an exit port. At the same time, the rotating head turns a screw which guides the contaminated material through cooling sections and finally to where it is discharged into collecting bins.
Ettlinger (Hall 9 Stand E24) is another K 2016 exhibitor which specialises in melt filters. It said its ERF series for heavily contaminated plastics is now capable of handling even higher throughputs, while the ECO models are optimized for filtering PET and PE in film and foil lines as well as low viscosity thermoplastics and polyamide.
Improvements made to the flow channels lead to lower differential pressures, which in turn can facilitate increases in throughput rates and gains in productivity of up to 15%, said Ettlinger. ECO filters have been optimized specifically to support extrusion processes such as the manufacture of films, sheets and other semi-finished products.