Extrusion machinery manufacturer Reifenhäuser has revealed a number of measures aimed at reducing energy consumption in cast film extrusion.
These include a project investigating faster cooling through the use of a copper-clad chill roll. The use of such rolls can bring other advantages, such as the ability to use cooling water at higher temperature, elimination of condensation, increased cooling speed, better control of film haze and transparency and increased line capacity.
Other energy saving measures include an intelligent heating programme to start heating of extruder components individually depending on the time needed for each individual component, and the use of the Reitorque direct drive system instead of geared drive.
With the Reitorque drive system alone, Reifenhäuser says that based on the local electricity costs at its headquarters of 9.56 cts/kWh and operating time of 8,000 hours per year for a 80mm Reitorqe extruder, annual energy savings of almost E9,000 may be expected.
Business is going well at Reifenhäuser, chairman Ulrich Reifenhäuser revealed on Wednesday. He said the company will end its financial year with turnover of E308m, up by over 20% compared with 2005.
