Plastic granulators and plastic shredders might operate differently, and each has its advantage, although that doesn’t mean processors have to choose between them. Instead, they are often used together where shredders reduce large products to a coarse size and then granulate them down to a uniform plastic flake granule, ready to be recycled.
You will find a shredder uses brute force to break your product down, and the finesse of the granulator will give you the desired result. Preshredding significantly increases the productivity of the granulator.
What is the difference between a Granulator and Shredder?
Granulator
- Compact footprint
- Produce uniform granules enabling regrind to go back into production or exported
- Continuous gravity feed of plastic
- Hi-horsepower with high RPM
Shredder
- Larger single shaft or dual shaft design
- Break plastic scrap down between 25mm and 50mm
- Continuous bulk feed ram fed from a hopper
- High-torque, lower RPM with optimised shafts/rotors/knifes
How do Granulators work?
An industrial granulator can handle thousands of plastic scraps with differently sized machines to process different materials. When it comes to cutting power, these industrial machines depend on high-horsepower motors, plus heavy flywheels, to effectively dice through scrap at a consecutive, even pace. The only principle limitation experienced with granulators is that its feed opening’s specific size and shape can affect scrap capacity. Oversized waste scrap that hasn’t been adequately minimised through a shredder can get blocked in the feed opening, slow down production (change to), and bounce around in a granulator, significantly decreasing production. There are several rotor designs available for different products and materials. Other than plastics, some materials that can be processed in a granulator include timber, textile, tiles, paper, e-waste and cardboard.
