Recycling: News in Size Reduction, Drying

Herbold Meckesheim is introducing several new machines at K2019. The company will present its EWS 60/210 shredder, which was developed for dry and wet operations. The company says it focused on making a suitable wear-protected rotor that, in addition to custom knife configurations, is equipped with bolted armor plating and a special grinding chamber seal. The two-sided belt drive is reportedly low-maintenance, and to safeguard against foreign bodies, there is a clutch that prevents damage to the machine when uncrushable feed material is encountered. The maintenance concept is tailored to ensure optimal accessibility based on ergonomic considerations.

A new DWS two-shaft shredder will also be showcased. Due to the large surface area of the rotor, the machine has a reported very good feed performance and is suitable for materials that can only be fed in doses using conventional shredders such as big bags or high-volume containers.

Herbold also redesigned its series of Herbold SB series granulators. The feed material is not fed into the grinding chamber from the top through the force of gravity as in the case of standard granulators, but by even feeding the material into the grinding chamber horizontally at the height of the rotor using screw conveyors. To accomplish this, the machine housing and feed system were completely redesigned to meet all requirements in terms of size reduction performance as well as ease of access for maintenance purposes. The rotor, which is manufactured from a single forged piece, ensures stability. The knives of this rotor won’t shift because they are bolted to a massive backstop. This design also makes cleaning easier since there are no “dead spots” in which grinding residue can deposit.

Another new machine is a two-stage thermal dryer. The flow through the coils was optimized and the heating temperature was improved to reduce energy consumption. This design is used specifically for recycling thinner films.