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Plastic Granulator Machines: How Plastic Granulators Improve Efficiency of the Plastic Recycling Process
Plastic granulator machines can be integrated into existing processing lines to improve the efficiency and quality of your production, along with reducing your environmental footprint through the recycling of plastic material.
By reducing waste, improving material consistency as well as feed consistency, and increasing the reusability of products, granulators are a beneficial piece of equipment for recycling plants and manufacturing facilities to have.
What are Plastic Granulator Machines?
Plastic granulator machines are utilised for size reduction of plastic parts, cutting plastic into small granules. Machines are available as beside the press and integrated units, which automatically pull rejected or wasted parts off line, granulate them, and feed them back into the process; they are alternatively available as manually-fed and standalone machines.
Plastic granulator machines are suitable for recycling facilities and manufacturing processes, including injection moulding, blow moulding and extrusion.
How do Plastic Granulator Machines Work?
Plastic granulators contain a cutting chamber, which is equipped with rotating blades and dead blades, also known as granulator knives, that cut the plastic. Granulator blades are easily replaceable or can be reinforced with a coating to protect against wear.
A removeable screen within the chamber determines the size of the plastic granules. Once the plastic has been cut to a size small enough to pass through the screen, it is blown in a bag or box where it can be reused.
Slow Speed Granulators
Slow speed granulators are suitable for integration into existing lines, such as beside the press granulation, and for feeding granulated parts back into process lines.
Slow speed granulators are typically used for the granulation of small parts, sprues and glass fibre material.
They have a low rotor speed (the MO-DI-TEC range provided by Summit Plastics Automation has a rotor speed of 25rpm) which accounts for reduced noise levels and dust whilst grinding.
Heavy Duty Granulators
Heavy duty granulators are utilised in extreme applications, typically granulating larger, individual pieces of plastic.
Throughputs on the ZERMA GSH range, recommended by Summit Plastics Automation, range from 300 - 7000 kg/hr, with varying rotor designs with widths from 500 to 2400mm and diameters from 350 to 1100mm respectively.
Heavy duty granulators can be used for universal applications, with the ability to adjust cutting for different objects.
Can Plastic Granulators be used for Non-Plastic Materials?
Yes, granulators can be used for a range of materials, including:
- Rubber
- E-Waste
- Copper
- Aluminium wires
However, in these applications, a shredder is often used as opposed to a granulator. Whilst shredders are also used for size reduction applications, they can be more forgiving than granulators when cutting different materials.
Automating your manufacturing lines or recycling facilities with plastic granulators is an efficient and economical solution to streamlining the recycling process. With a range of granulator types to choose from, you can integrate the most suitable system for your application to generate maximum output – reducing both plastic waste and your environmental footprint.