Material Processing:
The standard system offered is recommended for plants operating up to 20 molding presses, although it has been used for up to 30 presses. The system starts with a vacuum loading system to transfer the raw EPS from the shipping container to a 40 ft3 (1.2 M3) batch blender for introduction of the zinc stearate lubricant. After the material is blended, it is transferred to the pre-expander hopper by a coreless auger. For most operations, this is manually controlled. The lubricated EPS is fed into the pre-expander by a variable speed auger. The steam/air temperature controller for the pre-expander consists of twin steam pressure regulators, the first to reduce the incoming steam pressure to 25 PSI (1.7 BAR), and the second, precision air loaded regulator to reduce the pressure to 10-20 PSI (0.7-1.4 BAR) and maintain it +- 0.25 PSI (+-0.016 BAR). The incoming air pressure is reduced to 60 PSI (4 BAR) and flow controlled and metered. The resulting steam/air mix injected into the pre-expander has a very consistent temperature, resulting in very consistent material density. The pre-expander is a 30-gallon (114 liter), vertical aluminum container with stainless steel agitators and a lower seal designed for the small "T" bead. It produces prepuff that is relatively dry and free flowing. This pre-expander has been operated in some plants at a rate exceeding 600 pounds (272 Kilograms) per hour at 3-pounds/ft3 (48-gm/l) density. The heated venturi bead blower transfers the prepuff from the pre-expander to the drying bag and screener using steam coil heated air and a blower venturi to minimize bead damage and speed the drying before entering the screener. The screener is supplied complete with a self-cleaning bottom screen. From the screener, the prepuff is transferred to the storage/aging bags with an unheated venturi blower. From the storage bags, the material is transferred to the molding machines in a circulating loop, which aids in maintaining material consistency.

All of the equipment is supplied complete with manual motor contactor/overloads wired and ready to be connected to the plant power system.