Re-Compounding & Upcycling

Tailor-made production of re-Pellets

Jürgen Morosz
M-A-S Maschinen- und Anlagenbau Schulz GmbH
[email protected] I +43 676 505674
Agenda:
• Why Recycling? Re- Compounding?
• Market requirements on re-pellets
• Main advantages of Re-Compounding / Upcycling
• Extrusion – Re-Compounding technologies
• MAS Technology – Conical & Co-Rotating Twin Screw Extruder
• Rising energy costs and how to counteract
• MAS in Re-Compounding
• MAS melt filtration
• MAS Twin- Compound Solution
• Re-Compounding / Upcycling in Mexico
Why Recycling? Why Re- Compounding?
…. Political obligation to close the circular economy
….. save global resources, prevent global warming
Re- Compounding stands for

• …. the production of a tailor-made pellet out of plastics waste, using mostly post-consumer rigid plastics,
sorted and washed post-consumer waste form
• …… mainly regrind from PS, ABS, PC/ABS, PP, HDPE
• …. from lg. WEEE waste, (waste from electrical and electronic equipment )
• …. from lg. Rigid plastics, collected from construction waste, industrial waste and
municipal recycling centers
• … from lg. refrigerator waste
• ….using additives, like CaCO3 / Talcum / MasterBatch / Stabilizers / Compatibilizers / ….
to produce pellet quality in particular demand
Market requirments:

…. Re- pellets compete with virgin pellets, therefore the right recipe with sufficient homogenization and perfect
degassing is essential.
Re-pellets shall fulfill/cover required:
- Impact strength / impact resistance
- Melt flow/melt index
- Surface quality
- E-Module
- Density
- …….

to cover quality criteria of Injection molding, automotive, and extrusion industries….

Main advantages of re-compounding:

- High flexibility because of the production of a tailor-made pellet for particular demands of individual
industries
- Saving energy, because of recycling and compounding in one step
- Following political regulations “Circular Economy”
- European Union has marked key priority in its Action Plan for a Circular Economy, ……regulatory framework
and targets regarding recycling of plastics!
- Following urgent environmental needs “Global warming”
- Enormous reduction of Carbon footprint
Extrusion technologies:

- Co-rotating twin-screw extruders:

The production of Re- compounds requires perfect homogenization performance; Therefore, the use
of co-rotating twin-screw technology became state of the art.
- Combinations of co-rotating twins + single screw extruder:
Single screw extruders either in front of, or downstream of a co-rotating twin
- Combinations of two co-rotating twins:
Single screw extruders either in front of, or downstream of a co-rotating twin
- Special homogenization/kneading equipment:
Designed for particular, tailor-made applications
 MAS Extruder Conical, Co-rotating Twin Screw

Feeding of:
PE, PP, PS, ABS, PET, PC, PA 6.0/ PA 6.6
etc.…
Regrind, film fluff
Fillers…
Additives…
 MAS Extruder Conical, Co-rotating Twin Screw
• Easy feeding of re-grind / pellets, but also
easy feeding of material with a low bulk
density
• The big diameter of the screw shaft at the
material intake and also at the
melting/compression part of the screws,
allows using high torque
• Detaching of relation throughput/screw
speed
• Therefore high throughput with low screw
speed and very low shear rate
• The high screw filling rate of the MAS stands
for high specific throughput (kg/screw-
rotation)
• That is the reason, why MAS can extrude a
wide range of Polymers with very low melt
temperature on request
MAS Extruder Conical, Co-rotating Twin Screw
MAS Extruder Conical, Co-rotating Twin Screw
 MAS Extruder Conical, Co-rotating Twin Screw

• Therefore, it is only necessary to remove the adapter between MAS and

the melt filter (or melt pump)

• Afterward it is easy to move the cylinder forward and swivel it to the side.
Now the screws can get taken out from the cylinder to the back end

• That means a time-consuming removal of the downstream equipment is not

necessary. Disassembling the screws on a MAS takes between 30min to
approx. 2h (depending on the extruder size)
 MAS Extruder Conical, Co-rotating Twin Screw
Segmented Screws

• A wide range of different screw elements are available

to achieve the required processing performance.

• A special installation of the extruder screws ensures a

split of the tensile strength and the tension strength
which results in higher mechanical stress resistance.
MAS Extruder Conical, Co-rotating Twin Screw
Extrusion process with a very low energy input
• short processing unit grants a short dwell time of the melt inside the extruder and a very low installed
extruder heating power.

• High throughput rates at very low screw speed with low shear rates for very low melt temperatures.

• As a result, the MAS extruder requires significantly lower specific energy [kwh/kg].

• Examples from MAS extruders in operation in comparison to parallel twin screws indicate an energy saving
of up to 25%.

• In comparison to a single screw extruder the energy-saving potential is even substantially higher.
Fast-rising energy costs:
Low power consumption becomes an essential factor for success!
Example PP- re-grind: (Re-compounding)

Extruder: MAS 93-K

Throughput: 1996kg/h

Energy consumption: 398kW

Spec. Energy consumption

0,199kwh/kg
Example ABS- re-grind: (Re-compounding)
Extruder: MAS 75 -K

Throughput: 1137kg/h

Energy consumption: 194kW

Spec. Energy consumption

0,1706 kwh/kg
MAS extruder pelletizing
MAS Re-Compound Line
MAS-K system: conical co-rotating
twin + single screw

- Compounding without a side feeder

- Additives are added to the twin-screw

extruder

- Melt filtration installed downstream of

twin-screw (normally no melt pump)
MAS Cascade extruder stands for:

• Purpose built venting zone “melt diverter

segment”
• Very efficient venting downstream of removal of
contamination
• Cascade provides melt-pressure for pelletizing
• Therefore, higher throughput (kg/h)
• Better venting performance and higher pellet
density
MAS Cascade- single screw- venting extruder
The CDF- Filter stands for:
• Large active surface area ensures
high throughput and low specific
flow rates (kg/h/cm²)

• Big surface area means also low melt

pressure level in front of the filter

• Variable speed control of filter disc

and discharge screws

• Scrapper pressure controlled by

pneumatic forces
MAS Solutions – Twin Compound Line
Combination of two extruders
Combination of two extruders Extruder No. 2 „Compounding- Extruder“
with feeding opening for additives

Extruder No. 1: „Melt- Extruder“

with feeding opening for main polymer

Melt filter (on request)

MAS Twin-Compound
• Combination of a „Melt- Extruder“ with a „MAS
Compound- Extruder“

• Tailor made compounding with extraordinary

flexibility

• Compounding without side feeders!

• Huge intake volume of the intake is used for

pressure less dozing of Talcum, CaCO3, Glass
fibers, Carbon fibers, etc..;
• Very gentle material intake into the melt,
without pressure, without shear
R&D for Upcycling in Mexico

Customer GT+Materials
• Tailor made compounding with
extraordinary flexibility
• Lab Line for R&D
• Scalability of process from Lab Line
to the production Line.
• For Polyolefins and technical Plastics
• High filled compounds without the
use of side feeders up to 85%
Re-Compounding & Upcycling in Mexico
✓ 23 defined recipes with just one
line configuration.
✓ 20% fewer energy costs compared
to other common technologies on
the market
✓ Up to 15% higher material
density
✓ Fewer maintenance costs due to
low melt pressures
✓ Less wear even you are working
with high filled GF re-
compounds.
Thanks for your attention!

Visit us at our booth No. 18 at PRLATAM