Compounders interest polyolefin producers
29 Mar 2000
The polyolefins industry's never-ending urge for expansion has led to a need for new equipment, according to process technology specialist Krupp Werner & Pfleiderer. Compounding and pelletising plants are struggling to keep up with the output of polymer plants, the company says. To counter this, it has developed larger pelletising plants capable of this material.
The size of polymerisation reactors has trebled since 1980, and is expected to increase by a further 50 per cent in the coming years, says the company. Operators are demanding ever-larger machinery, particularly in the Far and Middle East, where new plants are being built on greenfield sites. The sizes of pelletising and compounding machines have therefore also been extended, it says.
The new machinery is designed to be operated by one person. For example, the huge UG100 underwater pelletiser shown here has a knife rotor weighing 150kg, which can be changed by a single operator. The next stage in the development of such machinery will be decentralised intelligent control systems, operating extruders, gear pumps and other equipment via a bus system.
