Feeder for fluffy materials takes on needs of bag recyclers

By Karen Hanna 

An upgraded Conair feeder that can handle difficult-to-feed materials offers to aid in stepped-up efforts to recycle plastic bags. 

Working in tandem with an in-line granulator system, the redesigned ScrapSaver fluff feeder can combine large volumes of reclaimed film scrap with virgin material and deliver the mix to an extruder for processing.  

Compared with its predecessor, it can achieve higher reclaim-to-virgin ratios and throughputs, said Alan Landers, blending product manager at Conair. It boasts a larger, stronger hopper and more robust auger and auger shaft, which provide a smoother infeed and greater fluff surge capacity. 

Plastic bags are one potential source of the type of tricky material the feeder’s designed to accommodate.  

“Bag bans may have dampened the demand for film in that sector somewhat, but the COVID pandemic has, at least temporarily, reversed that trend,” Landers said. “Overall, film production will continue to increase steadily as will the environmental pressures to recycle/reclaim increasing volumes, although regulatory requirements are only one factor. Finally, film scrap is so difficult to deal with, there is always demand for equipment that can do it well.” 

Featuring a more rugged construction, the feeder has a twin-chamber hopper, with one compartment for granulate film fluff and a smaller, gravity-fed side chamber for virgin material. Its longer, stronger one-piece auger lets it maintain smooth fluff flow. 

The ScrapSaver is mounted directly atop the extruder feed throat and can automatically adjust to any change in extruder rate. It has an integral control panel, and mounting adapters for varied extruder feed throats from 2 to 8 inches in size.   

As standard, the feeder enables users to set maximum fluff re-feed ratios of up to 28 percent of extruder output; however, Conair can modify the technology to provide higher fluff ratios.   

The feeder is equipped with a 20-to-1 reduction gearbox; gearboxes with 10-to-1 and 30-to-1 ratios also are available to handle varying flow rates and bulk densities. A variable-speed motor, available in 1.5-horsepower (hp), 3- hp, 5- hp and 7.5- hp versions, powers the solid-core auger shaft. 

Karen Hanna, senior staff reporter 

[email protected] 

Contact: 

Conair Group, Cranberry Township, Pa., 724-584-5500, www.conairgroup.com