Plastics machinery manufacturer MAS Maschinen- und Anlagenbau Schulz GmbH, based in Austria, has released its latest product in continuous melt filtration, the CDF DP. MAS will feature the machine at Fakuma 2015, Oct. 13-17 in Friedrichshafen, Germany, in Exhibit Hall A6, Booth 6409.
North Carolina-based eFactor3 distributes MAS equipment in North America.
This continuous melt filtration line boasts a filtration area of 6.56 square centimeters (1 square inch) for high throughput. Its central element is a shaft-driven, rotating sieve carrier that holds an interchangeable round mesh filter plate, eFactor3 says. The perforated plate is made of surface-hardened steel and available, depending on the application, with a filter-hole pattern in the range of 90 to 750 microns. The rotating filter unit runs against a stationary knife, which collects the foreign particles lying on the filter disc.
The CDF can remove contaminants such as paper, wood, aluminum, rubber or nonmolten plastic particles.
Once the contamination is lifted from the screen by the knife it is immediately purged from the filter unit by the variable speed discharge screw, eFactor3 says. Its design ensures that the greatest amount of foreign particles (which increases proportionally with the disc diameter) is nearest to the material discharge. This minimizes filter blockages or filter disc wear by abrasion, according to the company. The contact pressure of the knife is controlled by the melt pressure via a mechanical piston-lever system.
The filter components consist of a hardened filter plate and a "soft" brass knife. Changing the filter disc is easy, as the filter housing is divided vertically like a clam shell, and both halves are connected by a hinge, according to eFactor3. The process can be performed with conventional tools in approximately 45 to 50 minutes.
The CDF (continuous disc filter) series is modular and is available in four sizes—300, 500, 500D and the newly released 500D-P. The smallest size CDF 300 uses a 300-millimeter (12-inch) disc with 704-square-centimeter (12-square-inch) filtration area, for about 300 to 700 kilograms (1,540 to 1,540 pounds) of polymer melt per hour. All other sizes work with one or more 510-millimeter (20.4-inch) filter discs. The CDF 500 single disc has a filter area of 1,640 square centimeters (262 square inches) for 700 to 1,600 kilograms (1,540 to 3,520 pounds) per hour and the CDF-500-D with two parallel discs has a filter area of 3,280 square centimeters (525 square inches) for 1,400 to 3,000 kilograms (3,080 to 6,600 pounds) per hour. The newly released CDF-500D-P consists of two parallel CDF-500D units with a total of four filter discs and a usable filter area of 6,560 square centimeters (1,050 sqare inches). This filtration area allows a melt throughput of up to 6,000 kilograms (13,200 pounds) per hour of polyolefin melt. This CDF is specifically geared toward the large demands of high-volume recycling plants and is currently the most powerful unit in the market, eFactor 3 says.
Headquartered outside the Greater Charlotte area in Pineville, North Carolina, eFactor3 offers a variety of preshredding, shredding and granulating equipment, along with conveying and separation equipment, systems integration and installation.