Maguire Introduces First Size-Reduction System For Routine Reclamation of Purgings as Valuable Regrind

Operator places a purging into the containment chamber of the Purging Recovery System.

Waste-Ending Purging Recovery System™ Eliminates Disposal Problems and Can Pay for Itself in as Little as a Year’s Time

ASTON, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., October 5, 2009: Plastics processors need no longer face the perennial question of what to do with purgings, those rock-like lumps of plastic that are byproducts of job and color changes. Instead of wasting purgings by sending them to landfills, processors now can use innovative equipment from Maguire Products, Inc. to reclaim them as raw material whose value may well repay the equipment investment in a year’s time or less, according to B. Patrick (Pat) Smith, vice president of marketing and sales.

The Maguire® Purging Recovery System™ is a two-stage system that first slices or planes hard lumps of plastic into small pieces, then reduces the pieces to uniform, high-quality regrind. Maguire sells the entire system, including the second-stage compact granulator, for only US$28,000. Since purgings typically range in size from 1 to 10 lb. (0.45 to 4.5 kg) and may be generated at a rate of several to dozens per shift in a custom molding operation, a processor using resin that costs $1.00 / lb. could reclaim hundreds of dollars worth of raw material per week.

“The Purging Recovery System is the only equipment designed specifically for the rugged work of size-reducing hard, heavy masses of plastic,” said Smith. “We developed this system to be heavy-duty in construction, shock-resistant in operation, and easy for operators to access for loading. A specially constructed machine base and sound enclosure keeps noise at a minimum.”

Maguire is offering the Purging Recovery System throughout the Americas. A streaming video demonstrating the features of the system and its mode of operation is posted on the company home page at www.maguire.com.

How the Maguire® Purging Recovery System™ Turns Waste into Regrind

A purging consists of the transitional material that passes through an extruder as the operator shifts from one job or color to another. Typically the polymer is discharged onto the shop floor, hardens, is scraped up, and is disposed of.

“Since a five- or ten-pound lump of hard plastic could damage the rotor in a $200,000 heavy-duty granulator, until now there have been limited options for reclaiming this material,” said Smith, “yet over time purgings add up to a waste of material valued at thousands of dollars per year.”

The Purging Recovery System draws on the simple concept of the carpenter’s plane. It consists of a table that is split into two levels and a purging containment chamber that, upon startup of the system, moves back and forth over the table surface. Mounted at the point of disjunction between the two surface levels is a rotor with staggered knives that turns at 1750 r.p.m., reducing the purging to small pieces and propelling them at high speed into the hopper of a compact granulator beneath the table. As material is planed away from the purging, a pneumatically-driven hold-down plate in the containment chamber keeps the purging in contact with the knives.

The base and surface of the table and the walls of the containment chamber are built of thick steel panels with reinforced weldments at impact- or load-bearing points. The traversing of the containment chamber is driven by a pneumatic/hydraulic system that is resistant to compression caused by shocks as the purging encounters the rotor knives. The containment chamber is low enough to provide easy loading of the bulky purgings, and the hold-down plate is designed to permit easy access to the chamber. The granulator beneath the table is designed to be easily accessed for cleanout.

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MAGUIRE PRODUCTS, INC., headquartered in Aston, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., is the world’s largest supplier of gravimetric blenders and liquid color pumps and also manufactures loading systems, dryers, auger feeders, and related equipment and software. Its customers include injection, blow, and rotational molders, extrusion processors, and compounders. Founded in 1977, Maguire operates six manufacturing facilities in Aston. The company maintains a network of distributors in the Americas and overseas and has three sales and service subsidiaries that stock, sell, and service auxiliary equipment systems from Maguire and its affiliate, Novatec, Inc.: Maguire Canada, headquartered in Vaughan, Ontario; Maguire Europe, supporting customers throughout Europe and operating a distribution center in Tamworth, Staffordshire, UK; and Singapore-based Maguire Asia, serving customers throughout South Asia and the Pacific Rim. Visit the Maguire Products web site: www.maguire.com