A plastic granulator is a machine used for size
reduction, an essential step in plastic recycling. Plastic granulators have the
ability to quickly break down plastic products such as plastic films, sheets, pallets and pipes into small, uniform pieces called “regrinds” or “flakes”. In
some cases, this maybe the only step required before it can be reused in
manufacturing new plastic products. For the most part, however, recycling of
plastic scrap requires much more resources in sorting and separation, size
reduction, washing, and pelletizing.
In
a plastic granulator, cutting knives are mounted on an open rotor spun to high
speeds by an electric motor. This rotor is encased in a cutting chamber where
stationary knives are mounted. As the plastic scrap enters this cutting
chamber, the rotating knives come into contact with the stationary knives
cutting the plastic into little pieces. A large screen with many holes is
placed at the bottom. The plastic will continue to mix and be cut by the knives
until it is small enough to fall through this screen. Hence, by adjusting the
size of the holes, one can control the size of the cut shreds.
