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Pinuform processes wastes from in-plant wood production into premium quality terrace decking profiles on WPC systems supplied by KraussMaffei Berstorff.
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(Munich, February 6, 2013) Pinuform, which for many years has been a leading manufacturer of wood composites, is increasing its production capacity and investing in WPC profile extrusion systems from KraussMaffei Berstorff. The extrusion lines, which recently went into operation at the Ammelshain (Leipzig) plant, comprise three WPC twin screw extruders in different sizes in addition to a twin screw extruder for compounding wood flour pellets.
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Two-stage process: compounding and extrusion of profiles
With its two-stage concept KraussMaffei Berstorff offers the ideal solution for a company that is focused on sustainable production. “Our customer is convinced of the merits of our systems, as it uses our co-rotating twin-screw extruder to compound wood flour and polypropylene based pellets, which, in the next stage, are extruded on our counter-rotating twin-screw extruders to make the final product”, explains Michael Finkenzeller, Product Manager with responsibility for WPC Extrusion at KraussMaffei Berstorff. For Pinuform, this process was a key criterion in its choice of supplier. “The systems supplied by KraussMaffei Berstorff meet all our requirements in terms of cost-effective and sustainable production because we can use this single-source concept in two processes”, explains Diethard Cascorbi, Project Manager at Pinuform. “Firstly, we use it to recycle the wood chips from our planing mill in an eco-friendly way and, secondly, we use it to produce WPC decking profiles of outstanding quality, which are in demand by our customers. Another side benefit is that we are able to market the pellets separately”, enthuses Holger Sieck, Managing Director of the company. Cost-effective concept for processing natural fiber-reinforced plastics
The co-rotation twin-screw extruder supplied by KraussMaffei Berstorff is particularly well suited to cost-effective direct metering of components, since the residual moisture content (up to a maximum of 12 percent) can be optimally discharged through venting ports. The counter-rotating parallel twin-screw extruder – equipped with a powerful high-torque drive – ensures high output levels. The processing unit, which features has special wear protection, is ideally suited to the extrusion of natural fiber reinforced plastics and, therefore, ensures long machine service life. Concept is also suitable for injection molding applications
With the benefit of the WPC concept supplied by KraussMaffei Berstorff, Pinuform, a Member Company of the Scheuffele Group, will, in the long term, be in a position to meet the rising customer demand for pellets suitable for injection molding applications. In view of the ever growing popularity of natural fiber composites for a wide variety of applications, Pinuform expects to see continuous growth and an increase in production capacities.
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