Coperion extends pelletizing offerings with PELL-TEC acquisition

Compounding technology supplier Coperion GmbH (Stuttgart, Germany) has acquired a majority stake in fellow German firm, PELL-TEC Pelletizing Technology GmbH (Niedernberg), extending its ability to be a complete systems supplier to small and medium sized extruders and allowing them to offer tailor-made pelletizing systems. The 10-yr-old PELL-TEC covers the entire pelletizing process from melt discharge through to ready-to-use pellets, with output rates ranging up to 6000 kg/hr.

Coperion spokesperson Bettina Koenig noted that the company has offered its compounding extruders with strand, underwater, and water-ring pelletizers, making the larger underwater and water-ring pelletizers itself while sourcing smaller sizes and strand pelletizers externally.

Coperion executive board member, Thomas Kehl, noted in a release that the company's main objective in the acquisition

Coperion's Executive Board Member Thomas Kehl, PELL-TEC's joint Managing Director Bernhard Stern, Coperion's Executive Board Chairman Günter Bachmann and PELL-TEC joint Managing Director Michael Schuler (from left to right)

was the ability to extend the size range of pelletizers it offers across all output requirements. The two companies were already collaborating prior to the acquisition.

"For a long time, Coperion has offered PELL-TEC pelletizing equipment as a standard feature for some applications," Koenig told PlasticsToday in an e-mail. "PELL-TEC's technical solutions and products, fast reaction times, and excellent service meet the high Coperion quality standards to the full extent."

Coperion's existing pelletizing technology, brands include:

• EGR: Pelletizer specifically for temperature and shear-sensitive plastics
• UG: Underwater pelletizer for nearly all thermoplastics, particularly polyolefins in throughput ranges up to 100 tonnes/hr
• WRG: A water-ring pelletizer for thermoplastics with throughput rates15 tonnes/hr, including filled and reinforced compounds
• ZGF: Centric pelletizer for the production of direct expanded food

At the last K show in 2010, Coperion highlighted a UG 1.250, what it called the largest underwater pelletizer in the world, with throughputs in excess of 100 tonnes/hr for polyethylene and water flow rates of up to 1500 cu m/hr. At the time, Coperion noted the first UG 1.250 was set to go into operation "soon."

PELL-TEC's strand pelletizer offerings include:

• SP EN: Throughputs from 30 to 1000 kg/hr
• SP pure: Throughputs from 50 to 1000 kg/hr
• SP easy/SP U: Throughputs to 2500 kg/hr
• SP HD: Throughputs to 6000 kg/hr

Koenig said Coperion would not reveal the acquisition price, but would maintain the PELL-TEC brand.