Polymer extrusion is an energy intensive production process andprocess energy efficiency has become a key concern in the currentindustry with the pressure of reducing the global carbonfootprint. Here, knowledge of the pattern of energy usage andlosses of each component in the plant is highly useful in theprocess energy optimization. Moreover, it is essential to maintainthe melt quality while improving the energy efficiency in polymerprocessing. In this work, an investigation was made on the totalenergy consumption, drive motor energy consumption, power factorand the melt temperature profile across the die melt flow (as anindication of the melt thermal quality) of an industrial scaleextruder with three different screw geometries, three polymertypes and wide range of processing conditions (altogether 135different processing situations were observed). This aims to widenthe knowledge on process energy and thermal behaviors whileexploring possible correlation/s between energy demand and meltquality (in terms of melt temperature fluctuations across the meltflow). The results showed that the level and fluctuations of theextruder's power factor is particularly dependent upon thematerial being processed. Moreover, it seems that there is arelation between the level of energy demand of the heaters and thelevel of melt temperature fluctuations. While the extruderspecific energy consumption decreases with increasing screw speed,specific energy consumption of the drive motor may have eitherincreasing or decreasing behavior. Overall, this study providesnew insights in a wide range on process energy demand and meltthermal quality in polymer extrusion. Moreover, further researchis recommended to establish strong correlation/s between processenergy consumption and melt thermal quality which should help toenhance process control and hence the product quality in singlescrew polymer extrusion.
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