The Mars Mineral pin mixer transforms the rCB powder into pellets, making them ready for packaging and transport to
Contec’s end-partner customers. rCB pellets are used in tire, paint, plastics, and rubber manufacturing.
Mars Mineral engineering staff and the Contec team collaborated at Mars Mineral’s pilot production facility in Mars, Pa., to produce high-quality pellets in a pilot-scale quantity for Contec sales personnel to sample prospective commercial customers.
Krzysztof Wróblewski, CEO of Contec S.A., said, “At Contec, we care about quality and efficiency in every stage of the process. Every single element counts, including those with whom we choose to collaborate. As a worldwide leader in designing and manufacturing high-quality and reliable pin mixers, Mars Mineral was the obvious choice to pelletize our recovered rCB powder straight from the mill. Pelletized rCB is easier to handle, package, transport, and dose than powdered carbon black.”
The Mars Mineral pin mixer is a high-speed conditioning and micro-pelletizing device that converts rCb with the addition of a liquid or additives into small dense agglomerates or pellets in the 0.125 mm-1 mm size range, 20 g-50 g hardness range. The company offers a pin mixer series with volumetric capacities ranging from 0.28-62.3 m3 /hr. The pellets can be produced at ambient temperature, which minimizes capital and operational costs, complexity, and environmental impact.
“Through material testing and careful study of the impact of changes in the process control parameters, we were able to provide an operational blueprint for the pin mixer that Contec ultimately purchased,” said Clayton Woodward, president of Mars Mineral. “We’ve been manufacturing pelletizers for over 50 years and are excited about how our technology can give companies, like Contec, and manufacturers everywhere a path to sustainability and a new revenue stream.”
According to a report by the Tire Industry Project for the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, one billion ELTs are generated annually, with four billion in landfills and stockpiles worldwide. Due to their nonbiodegradability and bulkiness, landfill disposal of ELTs has been replaced by recycling strategies, like Mars Mineral and Contec technologies.
