At this year's Chinaplas (April 17-20, 2023, Shenzhen, P.R. China) Coperion GmbH, Stuttgart/Germany was presenting itself as a technology provider for a wide range of forward-looking applications in the processing of plastics. With an extensive installed base, Coperion is considered an expert in the recycling of plastics as well as in the production of bioplastics. Coperion has brought its expertise in plastics recycling to life at its booth in Hall 10 with a virtual complete system for recycling PET. This plant allows a look inside numerous key components from Coperion and recently acquired partner Herbold Meckesheim, with whom Coperion now offers complete systems for plastics recycling.
Laboratory extruder STS 25 Mc¹¹
In addition, Coperion was demonstrating its expertise in conventional compounding systems. Coperion showed a ZSK 58 Mc18 twin screw extruder with a Coperion K-Tron K-ML-SFS-KT20 twin screw feeder, as well as the STS 25 Mc11 laboratory extruder with a C/S-LW-NT28 twin screw feeder from Colormax Systems. In addition, the Coperion K-Tron quick-change feeder T35-QC was on display together with a 2415 vacuum receiver for ingredient refill, as well as the comprehensive service offering on all Coperion technologies and equipment.
The STS 25 Mc11 laboratory extruder that Coperion was demonstrating at Chinaplas, has a 25 mm screw diameter and features a simple design. It is operator-friendly and easy to clean. By having the same screw diameter ratio Do/Di of 1.55 and the same maximum specific torque Md/a³ of 11.3 Nm/cm³ as the entire STS Mc11 extruder series, production parameters can be reliably scaled up to a larger STS model. To extend the process window, Coperion had increased the screw speed of the STS 25 Mc11 to 1,200 min-1. This way the laboratory extruder is ideally suited for recipe development and basic scientific research with small batch sizes of 2 kg and achieves throughput rates of up to 110 kg/h. The STS 25 Mc11 which Coperion was exhibiting at Chinaplas was equipped with a Colormax Systems C/S-LW-NT28 twin screw loss-in-weight feeder.