The most commonly used method to color pellets is a compounding step, using an extruder. The extruder grinds the pellets and mixes the coloring agent inside the plastic. Afterwards, the plastic is pelletized again. With DSM’s Pellet Coating Technology, such an additional compounding step for coloring plastics is no longer required.
Applications
The main application of the Pellet Coating Technology is to add specific properties, such as color, UV-stabilizers or antimicrobial agents, to previously compounded plastic pellets. The working principle of Pellet Coating Technology is simple and requires no additional compounding. Possible applications are as follows:
- Compounded and colored plastics are often used in small batches – e.g. 25 kilograms – for the production of small domestic appliances and mobile electronic devices, e.g. cell phones in different colors. Although the number of phones produced is quite high, the amount of colored pellets required in one specific color is relatively low. If the plastics are colored in a compounding step, the batches are too small to be cost effective.
Benefits
-
Flexibility:
With the Pellet Coating Technology, extra compounding to add specific (color) properties is no longer necessary, with the result that there is no need for time-consuming cleaning of the extruder in between batches. Processing a batch and a change-over to a new batch can be performed in a matter of minutes.
-
Savings:
When plastic pellets are coated using Pellet Coating Technology, there is hardly any waste material and no cleaning of the extruder is required. The savings in terms of processing costs can be up to 1 euro per kilogram of compound produced (calculated using the DSM Cost Compounding Model for average batch sizes of 1,000 kg).
-
Other advantages:
Shorter delivery time without an increase in stock, possible reduction in stock (color will be applied just before shipment), increase in efficiency, ease of production planning and an enhanced factory output on the same footprint, as there is no need for additional production lines.
Licensing
This technology can be licensed.
