| Overview |
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Handling of highly viscous melt is often one of the key problems in the polymer production industry. Sulzer has the right equipment and the right application know-how to handle any problem that arises.
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| Homogenizing Polymer Melt |
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In order to enable uniform polymer granules to be formed, it is essential that the polymer melt stream is homogeneous prior to pelletization. The mixer equalizes gradients of viscosity temperature and colour as they normally appear in laminar flow conditions in an empty pipe.
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| Blending / compounding of two polymers |
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Two different polymer streams are mixed together to form a polymer with unique characteristics. Considering pressure drop, mixing element length and sometimes, shear rate and residence time as parameters, the required homogeneity can be designed by our experienced engineers.
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| Admixing of masterbatch into polymer melt |
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A common way to incorporate additives into polymer melt is to use a masterbatch, since solid additives (e.g. Si02) can not be admixed in a melt stream directly. In such a case, the masterbatch must be fed via a small side extruder into the polymer main stream.
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| Dispersing of non soluble components in polymer melt |
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PS foam after admixing of water as striping agent with a Sulzer SMX® |
Insoluble additives, or high concentrations of additives which are partly soluble are perfectly dispersed with the Sulzer Static Mixers. Normally these additives are of very low viscosity (water-like). Therefore the viscosity ratio to the polymer melt is normally > 1:106). The Sulzer mixer geometry along with the special Sulzer distribution device has proven its efficiency for these applications in many industrial references. Our engineers are capable of designing the mixer in such a way, that the required shear force in the mixer is big enough to overcome the surface force in order to form the required droplets.
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| Admixing of low viscous additives in polymer melt |
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Sulzer polymer mixer designed for direct connection
to the 2nd stage devolatilization vessel outlet. |
Many additives used in the polymer production industry are of low viscosity and are only partly soluble in the polymer stream. Normally, the homogeneity requirements are very high, since the polymer is often pelletized immediately after the static mixer.
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| Cooling of polymer melt |
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SMR mixer / heat exchanger |
Cooling of a polymer melt or solution is a difficult application as the viscosity of the product between in- and outlet increases. In some cases this effect could be very pronounced. There is also danger of maldistribution. Sulzer Chemtech has the know-how to find a solution for this difficult task and will accordingly design the most appropriate heat exchanger.
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| Heating of polymer solution (1phase and 2 phase) |
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SMXL® multitube mixer-heat exchanger |
Polymer solutions are in most cases very heat sensitive to excessive heating. Accordingly, heating of such a product should be carried out within a short time and with a narrow residence time distribution in order to get a good quality of the product. The heat exchanger SMXL® monotube and SMXL® multitube are best suited to fulfil this specification.
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| Devolatilization of polymers |
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Devolatilisation processes are important in the production of high quality polymer products. After the Polymerisation process the product mostly does not contain a pure polymer, but a mixture of unreacted monomers, oligomers, solvents and other impurities.
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| Exothermic Reaction |
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Sulzer Mixer Reactor (SMR®) provides excellent plug flow characteristics and offer high and controllable rate of heat transfer owing to the largest heat transfer area in the industry per unit volume. A suitable combination of mixing effects and heat removal maintains high driving forces for reaction, narrows residence time distribution, reduces dead space, suppresses side reactions and favors high conversion.
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| EPS / Expandable polystyrene |
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Expandable polystyrene (EPS) are small polystyrene pellets or beads containing some dissolved liquid, in most cases pentane, some times butane. The dissolved liquid serves in the later processing stages as a foaming agent.
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