- High and controllable heat transfer rates
- High conversion and reduction of by-products
- No inert system or solvents required
- Consistently uniform product quality through excellent control of temperature-time history
- Suppression of side reactions
- No dead zones, thus facilitating a fast transition of products and process conditions
- No rotating parts, thus minimized maintenance costs
- Low energy consumption, therefore overall low operating costs
Polymer production
Smooth and efficient heat transfer solutions for polymer production
Sulzer has been providing key components and skid-mounted systems for the production of various kinds of polymers for over two decades.
- Polystyrene (PS)
- Poly lactic acid (PLA)
- Expandable polystyrene (EPS)
- Devolatilization
Key components
Key components of our technology packages for polymer production
- SMX, SMX plus, SMV, CompaX static mixers for
- Admixing of catalysts and initiators in reaction solutions
- Admixing of low-viscosity additives in polymer melt
- Admixing of masterbatch into polymer melt
- Blending/compounding of two polymers
- Dispersing of non-soluble components in polymer melt
- Homogenizing of polymer melt
- SMR heat exchanger / reactors for
- Exothermic reaction
- Loop reaction
- Plug flow reaction
- Cooling of polymer melt
- Exothermic reaction
- SMXL heat exchangers for
- Devolatilization of polymers
- Heating of polymer solutions
Complete systems are available for the production of
- EPS (Expandable polystyrene)
- PLA (Polylactic Acid)
Polymer application range
We offer you components for processing the following polymers
- Adhesives
- Cellulosic fibers
- EPM/EPDM
- EPS
- LLDPE, LDPE, HDPE
- PBT, PB, PBS, PIB
- PET
- PLA
- PMMA
- Polyamide (PA, PA6)
- Polycarbonate
- Polypropylene
- PP
- POM
- PS (GPPS/HIPS)
- PUR
- PVAC
- SAN/ABS
- Silicon elastomers
- Silicon oils
- Silicon polymers
- Viscose
Reaction technology
Reaction technology
- Fast transition time due to outstanding plug flow behavior and thus high yield and productivity
- Easy control of exothermic reactions due to extensive, volume-independent heat transfer surface, even at large scales, resulting in high operational safety, also in critical situations (for example, power outage)
- Safe operation (no gas phase, thus no explosion risks in the equipment)
- Low shear rates and thus reduced product degradation (allows, for example, for very high rubber efficiency in impact-strengthened polymers)
- No maintenance due to absence of moving parts means reduced operating costs
Devolatilization technology
Devolatilization technology
- Lowest residual monomer content (lower entry barrier for food applications)
- Simple with a minimum of rotating equipment, and therefore easy to maintain with low operating costs
- Efficient and thus low energy consumption for reduced operating costs
- Gentle product handling allowing for highest product quality (lowest oligomer content, optimum transparency, no black spots) to achieve best prices in the market
Mixing
Mixing of additives in polymer melt
- Most energy efficient (one order of magnitude lower than dynamic systems) saves you operating costs
- Highly reproducible quality due to well defined mixing patterns minimizes the downtime of your plant
- No maintenance due to absence of moving parts reduces your running costs
Contact our Polymer team below