Industrial mixing technology scale

The processing technologies for elastomeric blends, thermoplastic elastomer-based on mechanical mixing, and elastomer-plastic vulcanizates are distinctly different. Depending on the type and nature of blend, size, and their final application, a wide range of processing equipment is now in use both industrially as well as in laboratory scale preparation. 

Particular attention should be paid to nonstandard production technologies including nonstandard methods of sterilization, sterile filtration and aseptic processing, lyophilization, microencapsulation, and certain critical mixing and coating operations. With such processes pilot-scale manufacture may not be predictive of industrial scale manufacture, and data on three full-scale production batches may be required in the application. 

The industrial application of solvent extraction is a mature technique, and it is now possible to move from laboratory experiments on a new extraction system to full industrial practice with little technological risk. There is a sufficient variety of large-scale equipment available to cope with most problems encountered in application, although much of the equipment remains rather massive. Attempts to miniaturize, for instance, by using centrifugal forces to mix and separate phases, still has to be developed further. 

The PVC industry is actively involved in the development of recycling solutions for contaminated mixed plastics waste streams with a high PVC content. Potential technologies for achieving this goal are tested at present at pilot scale. This paper provides an overview of the projects under investigation and the results obtained so far, while development work continues. 9 refs. 

Premixing. The development and engineering of the SA processing technology is based on extensive laboratory and field experience with SA binder and SA mixes. The key aspects and requirements for the incorporation of sulfur in paving mixes for industrial-scale mix production are uniformity of dispersion, SA ratio, and coating of the aggregate by the binder. 

This is a vital problem for liquefaction and has failed in the advanced German trials. In Japan, liquefaction has first to defeat incineration, the technique that has prevailed in most municipahties. The rate of incineration in municipalities has reached 80% or so and 40 million tons of garbage are incinerated every year. From this point of view, the reduction of collection and baling costs as described above is an easy way to achieve this. Second is the question of how to reduce the liquefaction cost compared with those for the other feedstock recycling methods, such as application in the iron and steel industry and gasification for ammonia synthesis. These methods have the merits discussed above. On the other hand, liquefaction has many weak points, it is small in scale, complicated with a mixed raw material for fine technology, and has a low degree of operation, 50% or so. 

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