Plastic recycling with planetary roller extrusion
Plastic recycling compounding — converting post-consumer and post-industrial plastic waste into pellets suitable for re-use in production — presents a fundamentally different challenge from virgin compound production. Feedstock variability is the dominant operating constraint: moisture content varies from batch to batch and within a batch; contamination type and level varies; melt flow index of the incoming material spans a range that would be unacceptable in virgin compound supply.
For PVC recycling, the additional challenge is thermal sensitivity. Post-consumer PVC — from cable scrap, profile offcuts, flooring waste, and automotive PVC — has partially depleted its stabiliser system. The effective processing window is narrower than for virgin PVC, because the stabiliser depletion interval that begins at processing temperatures has already partially elapsed during the material’s service life. Processing used PVC on high-shear, high-temperature twin screw equipment accelerates the remaining depletion and produces compound with colour shift and reduced long-term mechanical performance.
Planetary roller extruders address recycling challenges through the same mechanisms that make them effective for virgin compound: low melt temperature reduces further stabiliser depletion in PVC recyclate; stage 2 vacuum degassing removes moisture, volatile decomposition products, and trace solvents from the melt; and the narrow residence time distribution produces more homogeneous output from variable input than either single-screw or twin-screw equipment at equivalent throughput.
The PLATEX by Takımsan models the PLATEX 155 through PLATEX 200 cover the 450–1,800 kg/hr range where industrial-scale PCR PVC recycling operations typically run. For the full range comparison, see the PLATEX system overview.
Why planetary outperforms twin-screw for plastic recycling
Temperature control for PCR PVC: Virgin rigid PVC has a fresh stabiliser package — typically 60–90 minutes of thermal stability at 200°C. Post-consumer PVC cable compound may retain only 20–40 minutes of stability at the same temperature. Processing on a twin screw at 185–195°C melt temperature consumes a significant fraction of this remaining stability interval, producing compound that will discolour in downstream processing. The PLATEX’s 8–15°C lower melt temperature at equivalent throughput extends the remaining stability interval proportionally — typically enough to allow one additional downstream processing pass without colour shift.
Moisture and volatile management: Post-consumer PCR material carries moisture from washing, and also carries volatiles — plasticiser residues, degradation products, trace solvents — that produce odour and surface defects in the recycled pellet. The PLATEX’s thin film geometry in the stage 2 vacuum section provides high surface area per unit volume for volatile evolution, removing more contamination per pass than twin screw vacuum vents at equivalent throughput.
Feedstock variability tolerance: The PLATEX’s narrow residence time distribution means all material in a given production segment receives the same thermal and mechanical history, regardless of entry timing. This reduces the output variability that results from input variability. On a twin screw, a surge of high-moisture material can cause a localized quality failure (foam, voids) before the vacuum vent can respond; on the PLATEX, the vacuum degassing section has larger buffer capacity and responds more gradually.
Recommended PLATEX models
For industrial-scale PCR PVC recycling at 450–800 kg/hr, the PLATEX 155 (55 kW) is the standard entry specification. Its processing window (450–800 kg/hr) matches typical medium-scale recycling lines.
At 600–1,100 kg/hr, the PLATEX 165 (75 kW) is appropriate for large PCR PVC cable scrap lines at high throughput. The PLATEX 165 is the most frequently selected model for PCR PVC processing.
At 750–1,500 kg/hr, the PLATEX 185 (90 kW, PR 250 or PR 150) suits large-scale recycling operations processing mixed post-consumer streams or cable scrap at high throughput. The PLATEX 200 (850–1,800 kg/hr) serves large industrial recycling plants with continuous 3-shift operations.
For recyclate quality development — testing new feedstock sources, screen mesh optimisation, or additive packages for stabiliser restoration — the PLATEX 80 lab extruder (max 45 kg/hr) is suitable for trial runs on new scrap sources before committing production capacity.
Run your formulation in our lab
Send a 5–10 kg sample of your recyclate (specify material type, approximate contamination level, and any pre-treatment applied) to Takımsan’s İstanbul facility. Our team runs it on the PLATEX 80 lab extruder and provide a report: vacuum degassing load, output MFI, colour assessment, and pellet quality. Contact Takımsan to arrange a sample run.
