International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology E-ISSN 2277 – 4106, P-ISSN 2347 – 5161

©2022 INPRESSCO®, All Rights Reserved Available at [Link]

Research Article

Parametric analysis of Single Screw extruder for processing of re-cycled

plastics
T. Ravali Lahari † and [Link] Sharma*
†M.E Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, MVSR Engineering College, Nadergul, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
‡Head, Department of Automobile Engineering, MVSR Engineering College, Nadergul, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

Received 07 Dec 2021, Accepted 05 Feb 2022, Available online 10 Feb 2022, Vol.12, No.1 (Jan/Feb 2022)

Abstract

Plastics are endangering environment due to excess usage by the urbanized communities all round the world and due
to its non-decomposable property, handling the waste is hazardous. In the present work, a plastic shredding machine
with hot barrel is designed using the fundamentals of rheology, polymer science, heat transfer and design aspects of
machine components for new product development. The specific flow rate, pressure drop, shear rate, residence time,
conveying efficiency are calculated and presented for parametric analysis. The behavior of plastic melt flow during the
melt conveying zone, heat transferred, and adiabatic temperature rise is discussed.

Keywords: Screw conveyor, viscosity, pressure drop, LDPE, HDPE, shear rate, extruder, flow rate.

1. Introduction The screw extruder machine consists of Electrical motor

drive, Barrel, Screw extruder, Electrical heating
Plastics are inexpensive, light weight and durable, due elements , filter plates and extruder die. The
to which there is a severe demand for its usage and nomenclature of single screw extruder is indicated in
disposing them is an issue. Re-cycling plastics and usage figure1.
are causing health hazards and there are severe
restrictions from statutory organizations , government
policies all round the globe in usage of re-cycled plastics.
Plastic recycling is the process of recovering scrap or
waste plastic and reprocessing the material into useful
products. Since plastic is non-biodegradable, recycling
is a part of global efforts to reduce plastic in the waste
stream, especially the approximately eight million
metric tons of waste plastic that enter the Earth's ocean
every year. This helps to reduce the high rates of plastic
pollution. Recycling is one of the most important actions
Figure 1: Nomenclature of single screw extruder.
currently available to reduce these impacts and
represents one of the most dynamic areas in the plastics The design of extrusion dies is based on the principles
industry today. Recycling provides opportunities to of rheology, thermodynamics, and heat transfer, which
reduce oil usage, carbon dioxide emissions and the are used to calculate the viscosity of viscoelastic
quantities of waste requiring disposal. In the present materials, melt plastics and heat required for melting of
paper a single screw extruder is designed to process the the plastics during transition from feed zone to
recycled plastic powder shredded in waste plastic bottle extrusion zone. The parameters effecting the die design
shredder machine. The plastic powder is feed into the are pressure, shear rate, and residence time as
single screw extruder through gravity into the feed functions of the flow path of the melt in the die. The
section of the screw extruder. The screw extruder is pressure drop is required to predict the performance of
coupled to a electric motor driven unit with reduction the screw. Information on shear rates in the die is
gear box , in which the screw extruder rotates at a speed important to determine whether the melt flows within
the range of permissible shear rates. Overheating of the
range of 80 Rpm to 110 Rpm.
melt can be avoided when the residence time of the melt
*Corresponding author’s ORCID ID: 0000-0000-0000-0000 in the die is known, which also provides an indication of
DOI: [Link] the uniformity of the melt flow.
9| International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.12, No.1 (Jan/Feb 2022)
Sharma et al Parametric analysis of Single Screw extruder for processing of re-cycled plastics

2. Design variables and parametric study Screen packs are used in polymer processing extruders
to remove undesired participate matter from the melt
The relation between volume flow rate and pressure and are placed behind the breaker plate at the end of an
drop of the melt in a die can be expressed in the general extrusion screw. Another important reason to
form as indicated by eq.1 implement screen packs is their assistance in better
𝑸̇ = 𝑲. 𝑮𝒏 ∆𝒑𝒏 eq.1 back mixing of the melt in an extruder channel, which
results from the higher resistance offered by the screen
Where 𝑸̇ is the volume flow rate , K is proportionality to the melt flow. Better back mixing in turn improves the
constant , ∆𝒑 is the pressure drop, G is die constant and melt homogeneity. In addition, screen packs are also
n is the power law exponent. The die constant depends used to attain higher melt temperatures to enable better
on the geometry of die and for circular section is given plastication of the resin. Owing to the intimate
by eq.2 relationship between melt pressure and extruder
throughput it is important to be able to predict the
1
𝜋𝑛 𝑅𝑛
3
+1 pressure drop in the screen packs as accurately as
Gcircle = ( 1 )*( ) eq. 2 possible.
2𝐿
4𝑛
The volume flow rate through a small hole for a
where R is radius and L is length of flow channel. As the
square screen opening is given by eq.6
plastic powder is flowing over the screw extruder and
̇ ∗ 𝜌𝑚 ∗ 𝑚𝑛 2 ∗ 𝜋
𝑞̇ = (400 ∗ 6.45 ∗ 𝑀 )/(3.6
subjected to heating, the shear stresses are acted and 2
shear strain rate is calculated using the relation eq.3. ∗ 𝐷𝑠 ) 𝑒𝑞. 6
4∗𝑄 The shear rate of the melt flow for a square opening is
𝛾̇𝑎 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 = eq.3 calculated from the eq.7
𝜋∗𝑅 3
The adiabatic temperature rise is calculated by density, 𝛾𝑎̇ = (3/0.42) ∗ 𝑞̇ ∗/(0.001 ∗ 𝑑𝑜3 ) eq.7
pressure drop and specific heat of the LDPE using the
relation eq.4 and residence time of melt(𝜏) is calculated The screen pack assembly is indicated in figure2.
by eq.5
∆𝑃
∆𝑇 = eq.4
10∗ 𝜌𝑚∗𝐶𝑝𝑚
𝐿
𝜏=̅ eq.5
𝑈
Melt fractures are looked like an instability of the melt
flow leading to surface or volume distortions of the
extrudate. Surface distortions are usually created from
instabilities near the die exit, while volume distortions
originate from the vortex formation at the die entrance.
Melt fracture caused by these phenomena limits the
production of articles manufactured by extrusion Figure 2: Screen pack in assembly
processes. The following design procedure is adopted to
evaluate the melt flow properties of resin which is Solid conveying is the means of conveying solid particles
processed in the die. of LDPE through the feed zone and flowing assumption
were made in the process of design.

Step:1 •Calculate shear rate in die channel 1. The polymer moves through the screw channel as a
plug
2. There is no friction between the solid plastic and
Step:2 •Calculate Viscosity values
the screw
3. There is no pressure rise during the conveying
Step:3 •Calculate power law exponent through feed zone.

Step:4 •Calculate Shear viscosity at Shear rate The screw extruder consists of a screw conveyor and its
geometry is indicated in the figure.3
Step:5 •Calculate wall Shear Stress

Step:6 •Calculate the proportionality constant

Step:7 •Calculate Die constant

Step:8 •Calculate pressure drop in the die channel

•Calculate Adiabatic Temperature rise and

Step:9
residence time.
Figure 3: Screw conveyor geometry
10| International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.12, No.1 (Jan/Feb 2022)
Sharma et al Parametric analysis of Single Screw extruder for processing of re-cycled plastics

where Db is the barrel diameter, S is screw lead, Ds is Therefore, the total power Z N for a melt filled zone is
root diameter of screw, WFLT is width of flight, H is depth given by eq.20
of feed zone , W is width of screw channel, Փ is helix ZN = ZC + ZFLT + Z∆P eq.20
angle, ψ is feed angle. Where ZC is the power dissipated in screw channel, ZFLT
The helix angle is obtained from the principles of is the power dissipated in Flight Clearance and Z ∆P is the
trigonometry and power screw concepts given by eq.8 power required to raise the pressure of the melt.
as The power dissipated in the screw channel is given by
Tan(Փ) = S/(π*Db ) eq.8 the expression eq.21
The width of the screw channel is given by eq.9 ZC =
2
𝑣𝜋2 𝐷𝐹𝐿𝑇 𝑁2 𝑊𝜂𝑐 ∆𝐿(𝐹𝑍 𝑐𝑜𝑠 2 ∅ +4𝑠𝑖𝑛2 ∅)
eq.21
W= (S*CosՓ/v)-WFLT eq.9 36×1014 𝛿𝐹𝐿𝑇 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜙
Maximum Specific flow rate of the resin or the plastic is The power dissipated in flight clearance is given by
given by eq.10 expressed in cm3/Rpm eq.22
𝑄̇
( )𝑀𝑎𝑥 = 𝜋 2 ∗ 𝐻 ∗ 𝐷𝑏 ∗ (𝐷𝑏 − 𝐻) ∗ (𝑊/(𝑊 + 𝑊𝐹𝐿𝑇 ) 2
𝑣𝜋2 𝐷𝐹𝐿𝑇 𝑁2 𝑊𝐹𝐿𝑇 𝜂𝐹𝐿𝑇 ∆𝐿
𝑁
eq.10 ZFLT = eq.22
36×1014 𝛿𝐹𝐿𝑇 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜙
If fs & fb are the friction coefficients for the screw and The power required to raise the pressure of the melt is
barrel, then the feed angle ψ is given by the eq.11. given the eq.23
Cos(ψ)= [Link](ψ) + Sin(Փ)*(K+(Ds/Db)*cot(Փ)) eq.11 Z∆P = 100*𝑄 ∗ ̇ ∆𝑃 eq.23
Where K=(
̅
𝐷
) *(sin(Փ)+fs Cos(Փ))/(cos(Փ)-fb Sin(Փ)) Heat Transfer between the melt and barrel is obtained
𝐷𝑏 by estimating the heat transfer coefficient. The Heat is
Actual volume flow rate is given by eq.12, which is transferred by both conductive and convective heat
function of both feed angle and helix angle. transfer and radiative heat transfer is sometimes
(Q/N) Actual = π2 * Db*H*(Db-H)*( Tan(Փ)*Tan(ψ)/ neglected.
(Tan(ψ)+Tan(Փ)) 𝑁 0.5 (𝑇𝑓 −𝑇𝑚){1−𝑒 𝛽 }
eq.12 ℎ̅ = 𝐾𝑚 ( ) [1 − ] eq.24
60 𝜋 𝑎 (𝑇𝑏 −𝑇𝑚)
The thermal diffusivity of the melt ‘a’ is given by the
Conveying Efficiency of the single screw extruder is the eq.25, which will give the degree of heat penetration in
ratio of specific volume flow rate actual to maximum solids.
specific volume flow rate. The conveying efficiency is 𝐾
a= 6 𝑚 eq.25
given by eq.13 10 ×𝐶𝑚 ∗𝜌𝑚
𝑄̇
( )
and 𝛽 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑒𝑞. 26
𝜂=
𝑁 𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙
eq.13 10−6 𝛿 2 𝑁
𝑄̇
( )
𝛽= − 𝐹𝐿𝑇
eq.26
𝑁 𝑀𝑎𝑥
240 𝑎
The melt Temperature rise is given by the relation eq.27
The resin or the plastic moves from the feed zone to melt 3600 (𝑍𝑐 +𝑍𝐹𝐿𝑇 +𝑁𝐻 )
zone and then into the metering zone. The melt zone is (𝑇𝑜𝑢𝑡 − 𝑇𝑚 ) =
̇
eq.27
𝐶𝑃𝑀 𝑚
created by placing the heating coil on the barrel and the
heat requirements are calculated from the principles of
heat transfer and thermodynamics. The volume flow 3. Methods & materials
rate of pressure flow in m3/sec is given by eq.14
𝑣.𝑒
−𝜋 ∗ 𝐷 ∗𝐻 3 (1− )∗𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝜙∗𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜙∗10−9
The equations eq.1 to eq.27 were incorporated in
𝑏
𝑄̇𝑝 = 𝑠
eq.14 calculation f the mechanical and thermal design of
2∗60
and mass flow rate during melt in Kg/hr given by eq.15 plastic processing unit connected with heat chamber
as for extrusion of waste plastic. A plastic shredding
𝑚̇ 𝑝 = 3600 ∗ 1000 ∗ 𝑄̇𝑝 ∗ 𝜌𝑚 eq.15 machine was fabricated and used for shredding of waste
plastic bottles. The shredded waste plastic powder is
The leakage flow through the screw clearance is a
collected and transferred to the waste plastic re-cycled
function of ad and J, which are given by eq.16 and
unit attached with auxiliary heater and extruder screw
eq.17respectively as
attachment with die.
ad = - 𝑄̇𝑝 /𝑄̇𝑑 eq.16
J = 𝛿/ 𝐻 𝑒𝑞. 17
The extruder output is finally calculated from the eq.18, used waster
Shredded
and is given below bottles
powder from Filtering
PBSM
𝑚 = 6 × 10 ̇ −5 ∗ 𝜋 2 ∗ 𝐷2 ∗ 𝑁 ∗ 𝐻 ∗ (1 − 𝑣. 𝑒 ) ∗ 𝜌𝑚
𝑏
𝑠
∗ 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜑𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜑 ∗ (1 − 𝑎 − 𝐽)
The shear rate of the melt flow to determine viscosity is Transported to Melt zone ( Heat
single screw Feeder zone chamber
given by the equation eq.19 extruder assisted) & Die
̇ 𝜋𝐷 𝑁
𝛾 = 𝑏 eq.19
60 𝐻

The screw power consists of the power dissipated as

viscous heat in the channel and flight clearance and the Product
power required to raise the pressure of the melt.
11| International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.12, No.1 (Jan/Feb 2022)
Sharma et al Parametric analysis of Single Screw extruder for processing of re-cycled plastics

The used plastic are mostly LDPE or HDPE, of which section. In fig.7 the effect of pressure drop in pascals is
LDPE is thermoplastic made from monomer ethylene estimated and it is observed that with increasing length
and have density of 917 ~ 930 kg/m3, temperature of and increasing the radius of extruder section ( circular
800C , with low tensile strength and high resilience, with section), the pressure drop is decreased. With increase
lower intermolecular forces. They are translucent, in mass flow rate of the polymer powder the pressure
opaque, flexible, tough and can be recycled with a drop is observed to be more at lower melting
number of 4. The HDPE is also thermoplastic made from temperature than the higher melting temperature. This
PETROLEUM (also called "alkathene" or "polythene" ). is graphically indicated in the fig.8.
The properties of HDPE is 930 ~ 970 kg/m3 density,
with melt temperature of 1200C, having high tensile
Effect of length and radius of extruder section
strength and low resilience and high intermolecular on Pressure drop
forces. They are very strong due to less branching in it’s
chemical composition and so interpreted to be stronger 7000000

than LDPE. Disposal of such plastics are becoming a 6000000

pressure drop ( in Pa)

challenge and as they are not bio-degradable. Even 5000000
HDPE is recycled with a number of 2. The exploded view 4000000
of the PBSM is indicated in the figure 4. The obtained 3000000
shredded powder is transferred to single screw
2000000
extruder machine attached with auxiliary passive and
electrical heating [Link] melting of plastic. 1000000
0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03
radius of Die ( in m)

0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2

Figure 7: Effect of length & radius of extruder on

pressure drop.

Effect of Mass flow rate & temperature on Pressure

Figure 4: Exploded view of plastic bottle shredding
drop at extruder
machine
6000000

5000000
Pressure drop (in Pa)

100
4000000
120
3000000
140
2000000
160
1000000
180
0
0 50 100 150 200

mass flow rate (gm/sec)

Figure 5: Single screw extruded machine

Figure 7: Effect of mass flow rate and temperature ( in
degrees centigrade) on pressure drop of extruder

shear rate as a function of discharge & radius of

15 extruder
shear rate (n 1/sec)

10

Figure 6: CAD Model of single screw extruder 0

0 0.02 0.04 0.06
4. Simulation results, data model prediction and Radius of extruder ( in m)
0.000005 0.00001
discussion
The pressure drop across the length of extruder is Figure 8: Shear rate as a function of discharge and
dependent on radius of the extruder and length of the radius of extruder
12| International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.12, No.1 (Jan/Feb 2022)
Sharma et al Parametric analysis of Single Screw extruder for processing of re-cycled plastics

The calculations for polymer extrusion are presented in

Actual specific mass flow rate of polymer as a
function of helix and feed angle
the given table.
Specific mass flow rate (in

12
Table 1: Calculation of pressure drop
11
gm/Rpm)

10
Physical parameter Value Unit
9
mass flow rate 10 g/sec
8 Density 0.917 g/cc
7
14 15 16 17 18 19
Discharge(Q) 1.091E-05 m3/sec
Helix angle ( in degrees)
Length 0.1 mm
14 15 16 17 18
temperature 200 c
Figure 9: Adiabatic temperature rise as a function of Radius of Extruder 0.0125
pressure drop & density of polymer
Shear rate 7.1126423 1/s
shift factor (aT) 0.374
Adiabatic Temperature rise
Power law coeff (n) 1.7661003
70
8.5282019
Temperature rise ( in centigrade)

60
50 viscosity 5055.3478 pa-sec
40 Shear stress 35956.881 Pa
30
Factor of Proportionality (K) 6.398E-08
20
Die Factor for circular section
10 3.189E-05
0
(G)
400000 600000 800000 1000000 1200000 Pressure drop 575310.09 pa
Pressure drop (in pascals)
0.9 0.92 0.94 0.96 0.98
Table 2: Calculation of conveying efficiency

Figure 10: Specific mass flow rate as a function of Physical parameter Value units
barrel diameter and helix angle. Delta_T 3.69E+01 0C

CP 1700 J/KgK
Specific mass flow rate asa function of Barrel
Time 0.5 sec
Specific mass flow rate ( in

diameter and helix angle.

60 Ave_velocity 0.2 m/sec
Barrel_dia 0.05 m
gm/Rpm)

40
Lead 0.05 m
20
Number of flights 1.00E+00
0
root_dia 0.039 m
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08
Barrel diameter ( in m) flight width 0.005 m
14 16 18 20 depth of feed zone 0.0075 m
Helix angle 17.65678715 degrees
Figure 11: Actual specific mass flow rate as a function width of screw channel 0.042644526 M
of Helix angle and feed angle.
Maximum specific flow rate 40.6917E-05 cc/rpm
Conveying efficiency as a function of helix Bulk density 0.475 g/cc
65
angle and feed angle
specific mass flow rate 19.32858083 g/rpm
Conveying efficiency as %

60
feed angle ( degrees) 15 degrees
55
Actual volume flow rate 2.04825E-05 20.48251
50
actual mass flow rate 9.729193299 g/rpm
45
Conveying efficiency 50.33578712 %
40
14 15 16 17 18 19
Helix angle Conclusions
14 15 16 17 18
A single screw extruder is analysed for operating speed
Figure 12: Conveying efficiency as a function of helix of 80 Rpm having density of 0.917 gm/cc with a melt
angle and feed angle. temperature of 120oC. The conveying efficiency of 50.35
13| International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.12, No.1 (Jan/Feb 2022)
Sharma et al Parametric analysis of Single Screw extruder for processing of re-cycled plastics

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