KraussMaffei Sell Polystyrene Extrusion Line into China

Thanks to the support provided by the German Technical Cooperation (Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH - GTZ), the first KraussMaffei Berstorff ZE75/KE250 Schaumtandex line can be delivered to a Chinese XPS producer. This project was promoted within the frame of the International Climate Protection Initiative (Internationale Klimaschutzinitiative - IKI) by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) on the basis of a resolution of the German Parliament.

The line in question is designed for the production of thermal insulation boards made of extruded polystyrene foam (in short XPS) in different thicknesses using the eco-friendly blowing agent CO2. The background to this technical solution is the phase-out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (CFC) and partly halogenated hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC) that are still being used as blowing agents in many countries all over the world.

China still has to deal with a building area of several billion square metres where the national energy-saving requirements introduced by the government in 2001 are not complied with. In North China, in particular, enormous amounts of heating energy are wasted due to non-insulated facades and the environment is thus needlessly polluted. For the few insulated buildings, mainly XPS insulating boards expanded by means of ecologically damaging HCFCs (like R22/R142b) are used. The blowing agent released from these boards depletes the ozone layer and presents a substantial greenhouse potential thus leading to the dreaded global warming effect.

The Schaumtandex ZE75/KE250 extrusion line is suitable for the use of environmentally friendly blowing agents (like CO2, for instance). This KraussMaffei Berstorff line features a ZE75 designed as primary twin-screw extruder combined with a KE250 used as secondary single-screw extruder. The ZE75 compounding extruder is rated for an output capacity of up to 1,000 kilograms per hour. Thanks to the excellent mixing performance of the twin-screw extruder, recipes composed of up to eight components can be easily processed. The downstream cooling extruder KE250 ensures optimum cooling of the blowing agent containing melt. Owing to innovative screw geometries, higher output rates can be achieved and the fine-cell XPS foam produced presents an outstanding quality. The board processing line is designed for continuous treatment of boards with different lengths and thicknesses and milled edge profiles on all sides. The production capacity of the new line amounts to 200,000 cubic metres per year.