Plastics Engineering - May 2014 - 22

Filtration: A Crucial Tool for Plastics Processors____________________

Ettlinger's current ERF250
product for filtering contamination from polyolefins, and, at right, the
company's "doublethroughput" ERF500 melt
filter, said to be coming to
the USA in August 2014

Material Matters

Looking Forward

"What's driving the market is the worsening quality of materials," adds Diletti. "Our system can handle ever decreasing
levels of quality and use 100% of the filtration area. There
is a very, very small amount of melt loss-typically 4-10
times less than with other screen changers." He says companies that process PE film with paper labels are the biggest
users of the ErF250, followed by companies that need to
remove aluminum, PET, and paper from polyolefins.
One satisfied customer is KW recycling (Troy, Alabama,
USA), which currently uses 13 Ettlinger machines, and by
year-end will have them on all of their 26 extrusion lines.
"They collect contaminants continuously, and the machine
only has to be shut down for ten minutes when we change
the scraper knives," says Scott Saunders, general manager
of KW recycling. "it is a much more efficient process. We
have significantly less contaminants getting through, waste
less material, and have better throughput."
it also has reduced KW's operating costs, as well. "We
now can have one operator running 6-7 machines," says
Saunders. "Before we had to have an operator at each
machine to make sure the screens were changed properly.

So what's in the future for filtration equipment?
"Everyone is looking to improve their process," says Tuttle.
"So they are replacing discontinuous filtering systems with
continuous filtering systems, and continuous filtering systems
with backflush continuous systems, which are a step above
continuous systems.
"Companies also want more screen area but in the same
footprint," he adds. "So we continue to add automated
processes to backflush contaminants in our Nordson Kreyenborg filters, so you can use screens multiple times and
longer. it is all about increasing productivity and decreasing
costs."
Pohl of Maag agrees. "Companies want to get more
throughput out of their extruders. They want to know what
we can do to size down the equipment to use less space, less
energy, be more efficient, and still provide an enlarged
screen space."
That's also the view of industry consultant Womer. "Companies are looking for uptime. They don't want to upset
their operating or manufacturing process [or] be making
scrap for 15-30 minute stretches. That is why they are willing to pay a quarter-of-a-million dollars for an automatic
continuous screen changer or a dual-belt ribbon screen
changer. it may cost them more money upfront, but they save
money in the long run."

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Plastics Engineering - May 2014

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