NATICK, MASS. - Alpine American Inc. is marketing a line of thermoplastics recycling machinery it claims saves energy and results in a more uniform reclaimed product. Jim Campbell, regional sales manager for the Natick-based film extrusion equipment maker, said the systems can process any kind of thermoplastics, especially films, into reprocessable pellets.
Campbell said systems come in a range of sizes, although he declined to give throughput information.
He said tests indicate the systems use 35-40 percent less electricity, and less water, and produce pellets with less moisture than other systems. The uniformity and consistency of the product is conducive to downline processing and mixing, Campbell said.
``The main reason is that the lines do not use the agglomerator method, as some of the leading systems do,'' Campbell said. ``Our systems simply feed the scrap film into the line, and make it into flakes, which then go to the extruder.''
The systems include a granulator, film flake compactor, metering device, single-screw extruder, hot-melt cutter, control cabinet and hoppers.
The resulting pellets, according to Alpine, offer constant bulk density and uniform shape, regardless of the material or mixtures being processed.
Campbell said the company has installed one line since early this year and has orders for more. They range in price from $150,000-$500,000, depending on size and design.
The systems are built as a proprietary Alpine nameplate line by Gamma Meccanica srl, an Italian equipment maker based in Bologna. Alpine American makes machinery for blown film extrusion, film handling and film reclamation.