Agri-Industrial doubles blowmolding capacity for off-road fuel tanks

Custom industrial parts blowmolder Agri-Industrial Plastics entered the non-automotive fuel tank market in 1995 and now has made another big bet on that market, adding another multilayer continuous extrusion blowmolding machine in a move that effectively doubles its capacity for these fuel tanks.

These fuel tanks are used by OEMs in the all-terrain vehicle (ATV), marine, and lawn-and-garden equipment markets, with the tanks' multiple layers helping reduce the release of fumes; caps on these tanks are defined and strictly monitored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

To increase its fuel-tank processing capacity, Agri-Industrial Plastics Co. has bought a second six-layer continuous co-extrusion blowmolding machine from Bonn, Germany-based Kautex (U.S. offices: Somerville, NJ), which will deliver the new machine in the spring. The processor also has 20 monolayer extrusion blowmolding machines for other applications not requiring barrier layers.

The new coex machine from Kautex has a CP450 six-layer head with a maximum output of 1985 lb/hr of HDPE. It has a single clamp and robotic parison transfer, and its large (59 inches by 70 inches) platen can accommodate two molds at a time. The machine is designed for tank sizes ranging from 5 gal to 20 gal, although Agri-Industrial has trialed some as small as 3 gal and some larger than 50 gal. —[email protected]