A new screener from process equipment manufacturer The Witte Co., Washington, New Jersey , features a modular design that permits the addition of the company's vibrating fluid bed dryer, cooler and deduster to expand system capabilities as production demands increase, even years after screener installation. Ideal for screening nylon, polyethylene, polystyrene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyesters, polyurethanes and other commodity and engineering resins, the Witte 300 enables resin manufacturers, compounders and other extruders to quickly and easily add drying, cooling and dedusting functions to the process without replacing the screener or buying separate dryer/cooler units.
Originally developed for compounders using high-speed, twin-screw extruders such as the Coperion MEGAcompounder, the high-capacity Witte 300, once equipped with its fluid bed cooler/dryer, releases bottlenecks in pellet cooling and drying often created when increasing strand line speeds overwhelm downstream equipment. The end result is added flexibility for absorbing short-term changes in process conditions, such as increases in melt temperatures due to high screw speeds, as well as a wider window for optimum processing. With a wider processing window, the Witte 300 achieves high pellet quality without requiring adjustments to high pressure air knives or fine tuning of strand quench times.
The Witte 300, by combining the multiple functions in a compact, quick-connect/disconnect unit, saves both floor and overhead space compared to a separate vibrating fluid bed cooling unit while also permitting movement among multiple lines. The Witte 300 is the first screener to offer
this long-term flexibility yet its pricing compares favorably with ordinary screeners that lack expansion capabilities, according to the company.
The Witte 300 air screens to minus 20 mesh fines ensuring the virtually complete removal of ribbons," "streamers" and "angel hairs". The Witte Dryer, Cooler, Deduster system is on display at The Witte Company testing laboratory in Washington, New Jersey.
