METHOD FOR TRANSPORTING, CONDITIONING, COOLING AND CRYSTALLIZING SIMULTANEOUSLY IN DRY POLYMERIC MATERIALS, BIOMASSES, BIO-POLYMERS, FOOD AND OTHER BULK MATERIALS BY DECREASING TEMPERATURES AT A LOW PRESSURE.

摘要

The present disclosure is related to a method that allows cooling virgin, post-consumer and/or post-industrial materials such as polymers, biomasses, biopolymers, food and other materials in the form of pellets, granules or other profiled forms, hot cut in a controlled manner and at low pressure, especially for thermoplastic polymers such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), fully dry and in vacuum. With all of the above, the material increases its intrinsic viscosity. The material enters with temperatures above 200°C and the same is cooled down by touching the walls and moving parts inside the devices. Each device has different internal pressure by the action of a vacuum pump and the action of valves that regulate the air flow between the devices. In each of the devices the temperature of the material is different because, both, the walls of the modules and the moving parts, are cooled. These walls are cooled by the circulation of a thermo-transferring product, being cooled externall y. The material is moved into the devices by the rotating action of moving helicoids inside. Said mobile helicoids are distributed equidistantly and are concentric to the device, so that when the material is rotating, the same moves from one end to the other. At both ends, double sealing closures are located, allowing the material flow in batches, so inside is permanently sealed at pressures that may be less than 2 mBar.