TH70504B - Tools and processes for the preparation of wax and wax-like materials. - Google Patents

Abstract

The DC60 pelletizing machine and process for waxes, wax-like materials, and other high-melting-point materials includes a tube to create a molten wax. The molten wax is then cooled to a temperature above its melting point. The cooled liquid wax is fed to an extruder which further cools and mixes the liquid wax into a thoroughly blended, malleable solid wax. The solid wax is then extruded through a die plate into a cutting channel, and a rotary cutter, working in conjunction with the die plate surface, pellets the extruded solid wax. The die plate, cutting channel, and rotary cutter can have a similar structure to an underwater pelletizing machine but operate without water or liquid as a dry-surface pelletizing machine. Therefore, the resulting wax pellets fall from the cutting channel by gravity through an opening at the bottom of the channel.

Claims (20)

Revised 27/06/2019 No claims ----------------------------- Revised 14/01/2019 No claims ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------28/12/2017------(OCR) Page 1 of 3 pages Claims 1. A process for making pellets of a narrow melting point material, defined as a narrow temperature range in the phase transition from solid to liquid, consisting of: (a) the formation of a high melting point material as a hot melt; (b) the cooling of the hot melt to a temperature below its melting point so that the material is in an extrudible solid state; (c) the extrusion of the solid material through holes of a die plate to create filaments; and (d) the cutting of the extruded material with a rotary cutter in a dynamometer-free cutting channel to form the material into pellets. 2. The process of claim 1 in which the pellets fall by gravity out of the channel. 3. The process of the second claim where the granules coming out of the cutting slot are directed to a conveyor and are conveyed by the conveyor to a granule sorter, cooler and/or packaging machine. 4. The process of any of the above-mentioned claims where the cutting slot and the rotary cutter are part of an underwater granulator operating as a 'dry surface' granulator without water or other cooling fluids. 5. The process of any of the above-mentioned claims where the granulated material is wax or wax-like polymers. 6. The process of any of the above-mentioned claims where step (6) is performed in two phases where in the first phase the temperature of the material is reduced to a temperature above which the material changes from liquid to solid so that the material remains sufficiently liquid to allow good, unobstructed flow, and in the second phase the temperature of the cooled liquid material is further reduced. 7. The process of claim 6, whereby the temperature of the material in the first stage is reduced to 5 degrees Celsius or less above the temperature of the material during the phase transition from liquid to solid. 8. The process of claim 4, whereby the pellets are removed from the cutting channel by an inert gas introduced into one side of the cutting channel, which then conveys the pellets out from the other side of the cutting channel. 9. The process of claim 6, whereby the first and second stages are further comprising a reheating step of the pelletized material if the material loses sufficient deformation for processing. 10. The process of claim 6, whereby the second stage is performed in a screw extruder. 11. The process of claim 4, whereby the dry surface pelletizing machine can be used. 12. Equipment for pelletizing from a molten material with a narrow melting port, defined as a narrow temperature range for the phase transition from solid to liquid, consisting of: (a) a heat transfer device to cool the molten material to a temperature above its melting temperature so that the material remains sufficiently fluid for good, unobstructed flow; (c) an extruder to further cool the material to the melting port and thoroughly mix the material into an extrudible solid; (d) a die plate with die holes and die surfaces; and (d) a bending channel and a rotary bender working in conjunction with the die surfaces to bend the thoroughly mixed extrudible solid into pellets through the die holes without any liquid. 13. Equipment of the claim. 12. Intended to produce pellets from wax or wax-like polymers. 14. Equipment of claim 12 or 13 where such molding plates and rotary bending machines are components of a dry surface pelletizing machine. 15. Equipment of any of claims 12 through 14 where such bending ports have bottom openings through which the pellets fall by gravity. 16. Equipment of claim 15 which also includes conveyors to convey the pellets out of the bending ports. 17. Equipment of any of claims 12 through 16 where such heat transfer device is a heat exchanger, including plate and frame type, coil type, wall type, U-tube type with or without static mixer, and tube and shell type with or without static mixer. Page 3 of 3 pages. 18. Equipment of claim 14 where the dry surface pelletizing machine includes inlet and outlet openings. and can be converted into a liquid underwater pelletizing machine. 19. The instrument of any of the claims 12 through 18 where such heat transfer device and such press shall include a heating component to increase the temperature of the material in it if such material loses sufficient denaturation for passage through the instrument. 1. The process for forming materials with a narrow melting point, defined as a narrow temperature range, from a solid to a liquid state into pellets, consists of: (a) creating a high-melting point material as a hot molten material; (b) cooling the hot molten material to a temperature below its melting point to solidify it so that it can be extruded; (c) extruding the solid material through holes in a die to create filaments; and (d) cutting the extruded filaments with a rotary cutter in a liquid-free cutting channel to form the material into pellets. 2. The procedure of claim 1, whereby the bead will fall by gravity out of the opening at the bottom of the cut-off slot. 3. The procedure of claim 2, whereby the pellets exiting the cutting opening are biased by a conveyor to a pellet selector, cooler, and/or packaging machine. 4. The procedure of Claim 1, whereby the cutting channel and the rotary cutter are part of an underwater pelletizing machine that operates as a dry surface pelletizing machine without water or other cooling liquids. 5. Procedure of Claim 1, whereby the hot melted material is wax, or a wax-like polymer, or other wax-like material. 6. The procedure of claim 1, whereby step (b) shall be performed in two phases, in which the temperature of the material shall be reduced to a temperature above which the material will transition from liquid to solid, so that the material remains sufficiently fluid to allow for good, unobstructed flow, and in the second phase the temperature of the cooled liquid material shall be further reduced so that the material is a thoroughly mixed, extrudible solid. 7. The procedure of claim 6, whereby the temperature of the material in the initial phase is reduced to approximately 5 degrees Celsius or less above the temperature of the material during the transition from liquid to solid. 8. The procedure of claim 4, whereby the pellets are removed from a cutting channel by an inert gas inserted into one side of the cutting channel, from which the pellets are conveyed out from the other side of the cutting channel. 9. The procedure for claim number 6, whereby the first and second phases can still increase the temperature of the material. 10. Procedure of Claim 6 whereby the second stage shall be carried out in a screw extruder, particularly one with two or more screws, and most preferably in a twin-screw or interlocking extruder. 11. The process of claim 4, whereby the aforementioned dry surface pelletizing machine can be converted to a water-immersed submerged pelletizing machine and then back to a liquid-free dry surface pelletizing machine. 12. Equipment for pelletizing from high melting point molten material consisting of: (a) a heat transfer device to cool the molten material to a temperature above its melting point so that the material remains sufficiently fluid for good, unobstructed flow; (b) an extruder to further cool the material below its melting point and thoroughly mix the material into an extrudible solid; (c) a die plate with die holes and die surfaces; and (d) a cutting channel and a rotary cutter working in conjunction with the die surfaces to cut the thoroughly mixed extrudible solid into pellets through the die holes without any liquid. 13. Instrument of Claim 12 where such melting material is wax, or wax-like polymers, or other wax-like material. 14. Instruments of Claim 12, whereby the said die plate and rotary cutter shall be components of a dry surface pelletizing machine. 15. The instrument of claim 12, where the cutting slot has an opening at the bottom through which the grain will fall due to gravity. 16. The instrument of claim 15, which also includes a conveyor for conveying the said pellets out of the said cutting slot. 17. Instruments of Claim 12, where such heat transfer devices are heat exchangers, including plate and frame type, coil type, wall plate type, U-tube type with or without static mixers, and tube and shell type with or without static mixers, in particular tube and shell type with static mixers. 18. The instrumentation of claim 14, whereby the dry surface pelletizing machine shall include the inlet and outlet openings and be convertible to a liquid submersible pelletizing machine. 19. The instrument of claim 18, which also consists of an inert gas being introduced into the said inlet opening to remove the pellets from the said cutting opening and biasing the pellets out through the said outlet opening. 20. Instruments of Claim 12, whereby such heat transfer device and such extruder shall include heating components to increase the temperature of the material within them.