Hosokawa Micron provides the plastics industry with a wide range of process technologies and equipment for the manufacture of (specialty) polymers.
Drying
The Nauta® vacuum dryer is the ideal solution for drying after synthesis, applying vacuum and heat to evaporate all liquid components and also to cure the product. If the boiling point of the fluid is higher than the melting point of the polymer, the valuable ‒ normally toxic and flammable ‒ fluid (monomer) can be recuperated in a controlled manner in the condensing step.
The Nauta dryer can perform a number of consecutive production steps in one piece of equipment without intermediate transfer, which is a big advantage when contamination is a concern. Another advantage of this dryer is that the temperature to which the polymer is exposed can be kept low and no quality loss occurs.
Mixing
Nauta® conical screw mixers can mix polymers with additives to enhance product properties, such as flow properties and static discharge. Nauta mixers can also be used for recycling scrap and trims into virgin material: offline for pre-mixing or online using semi-continuous production.
Extrusion
Many polymers are extruded either to obtain final products or to be cut into pellets. Important for extrusion is that moisture is extremely low, also the virgin polymer is to be fed homogeneously to the extruder. The Nauta® conical screw dryer meets both requirements in one piece of equipment.
Coating
The Nauta® conical screw mixer is suitable for the coating of polymers with pigments before extrusion. For coating in continuous processes a continuous paddle mixer can be used.
Product development
Polymer producers are continuously developing special products with tailor made properties. These high value products require ever more complex production methods. With our knowledge, equipment and especially our test centre, Hosokawa Micron is an ideal partner to help develop new polymer production processes.