Continuous heat treatment of loose plastic compounds, in particular polyester, polyamide or polycarbonate involves use of a reactor with separate chambers for simultaneous treatment of different material flows

摘要

The process is performed in a reactor(1) in which two or more material flows are simultaneously treated independently of each other. Treatment of one material flow is different to that of the other material flow and in particular dwell times vary. The reactor(1) is divided into two or more process chambers(2,4) in the flow direction. A vertical reactor may be divided into two process chambers extending in the vertical direction and one process chamber(4) surrounds the other(2). The reactor may have two product outlets(16,17) and two product inlets(14,15). The outlets and inlets connect with the separate chambers. Material specification at the inlets may be similar, but at the outlets can be different. In an example of this a polycondensate is supplied via an inlet and is subjected to a post-condensation in two or more chambers so that the degree of polymerization in the first chamber differs from that in the second. Alternatively material specifications may differ at the inlet, but are closer to each other at the outlets. Process gas is passed through the loose material compound in t he reactor. Independent claims are included for: a) the process reactor(1) which has two or more separate process chambers(2,4) along the flow direction of the material to be treated; b) a plant for thermal treatment of loose material compounds in which two or more reactors are arranged in series in the material flow direction.