Development of Shredding and Washing Machine for Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Bottles Pelletizer

Abstract

Plastics, owing to its widespread use in almost all sectors, has become a foremost important environmental threat facing humankind and recycling is considered the best and viable option to tackle this peril. The purpose of this research was to develop and evaluate PET bottles shredding and washing machine for waste management and recycling. The research was aimed at shredding PET bottles into required sizes with an area of 0.001m² (10mm x 10mm) for a plastic pelletizer. The machine developed performs washing, cleaning and shredding of PET bottles using rotating blades are arranged in auger-like manner, other features of the machine includes hopper, washing chamber, adjustable screen and centrifugal pump. The machine was designed with high consideration for safety, easy operation, efficiency and cost. The machine has the capacity to shred 50-75kg of PET bottles per hour. The recycling efficiency, shredding efficiency and percentage retention are the parameters used to evaluate the performance of the machine at variable operation speeds (187.5rpm, 273.8rpm and 350.2rpm) and feeding rates (1.0kg/hr, 1.8kg/hr and 2.4 kg/hr). Tests results showed higher ratio of the shredded plastic of the desired size at 1.8kg/hr and 350.2rpm, accounting for 60.01% shredding efficiency. The recycling efficiency of the shredding and washing machine is 93.73% at 273.8rpm and 1.8kg/hr feeding rate, with the highest retention of 17.9% at 2.4kg/hr feeding rate and 185.7rpm. The shredding and washing machine will be used in combination with plastic pelletizing machine in a waste recycling plant.

Keywords

• Plastic,Waste Recycling,PET,Shredding

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