Recycled PP/PE film and EPS foam represent the lowest-hanging fruit in plastic recycling — abundant, cheap, and in high demand as pellets. But they also represent the hardest feeding challenge in any recycling operation. The physics are extreme:
EPS foam (expanded polystyrene): 10–30 kg/m3 bulk density. A cubic meter of EPS foam weighs less than a bag of cement — and is 95-98% air. Gravity does not apply in any meaningful sense; the material floats, clings to surfaces from static electricity, and refuses to flow into any hopper throat.
LDPE stretch film / agricultural film: 80–120 kg/m3. Thin, curled, tangled after washing — these films form interlocking masses that bridge across any hopper opening. Even with a side force feeder pelletizing line — which uses a screw to positively displace material — feeding is limited by the screw's ability to grip and convey a continuous stream of ultra-low-density flake.
PP woven bags: 150–250 kg/m3. The woven structure resists compaction. Bags retain their shape under gravity, creating stable arches in the hopper that resist collapse.
For these materials, the challenge is not just inconsistent feeding — it is that no feeding at all is the default state. Operators poke and prod, but the physics remain: gravity cannot move air-filled, interlocking, low-density masses into an extruder with the consistency a pelletizing line demands for stable melt pressure and uniform pellet quality.
The CX-CWR Series from Chenxing Machinery solves this with a fundamentally different approach: cutting and compacting the material before it reaches the extruder screw.
The CX-CWR pelletizing line pairs two integrated technologies — the Cut Compactor Feeder and the Hot Die Face Water Ring Cutting system — to convert ultra-low-density waste into round, uniform, high-value pellets in a single continuous line.
The Cut Compactor is a large-diameter vertical drum mounted directly above the extruder feed throat. Inside the drum, a set of rotating blades (rotary cutters) spins against stationary blades (stator knives). Material — film, foam, woven bags — enters the compactor from the top, fed by a screw feeder or conveyor belt.
Inside the compactor, three things happen simultaneously:
Cutting: The rotating blades shear the material against the stationary knives. Large film pieces are torn into smaller fragments. EPS foam blocks are shredded into beads. Woven bags are sliced into strips and then fragments. This size reduction eliminates the interlocking structure that causes bridging — a film ball 300mm across becomes thousands of 20-50mm fragments that no longer interlock.
Compacting: Friction between the rotating blades and the material generates heat — typically 80–120°C inside the compactor drum. The material softens and begins to shrink. EPS foam collapses from 10-30 kg/m3 to a dense melt. Film shrinks and densifies. Woven bag fragments curl and compact. The material exiting the bottom of the compactor into the extruder feed throat is no longer "fluff" — it is a pre-compacted, partially plastified mass with 3-8x the bulk density of the incoming waste.
Preheating: The frictional heat generated in the compactor preheats the material before it enters the extruder. This reduces the extruder's heating burden — the material enters the feed zone already at 80–120°C instead of ambient — and accelerates plastication in the screw. Effective extruder throughput increases because less energy is consumed bringing the material to melt temperature.
The compactor does what no gravity hopper, no side feeder screw can do: it physically destroys the structure that causes feeding failure, then compacts the destroyed fragments into a dense, flowable mass that the extruder screw can process efficiently.
After extrusion through the single-screw plastication zone and high-speed hydraulic screen changer, the melt exits through a hot die face — a heated die plate with multiple small-diameter holes. On the die face, rotating cutter blades shear the emerging melt strands into pellets at the moment of extrusion, while the die is still hot and the polymer is molten. This is fundamentally different from strand pelletizing, where strands must be drawn through a water bath and cut cold.
Immediately after cutting, the hot pellets are flung outward into a rotating water ring that surrounds the die face. The water ring centrifugally holds a wall of cooling water that captures the pellets, quenches their surface within milliseconds, and prevents pellet-to-pellet sticking. The water conveys the pellets away from the cutting chamber into the downstream dewatering and drying system.
This combination — hot die face cutting plus instantaneous water ring quenching — produces pellets with three key qualities:
Round, uniform shape: Because the melt is cut while still plastic, pellets form a near-spherical lenticular shape. No cylindrical "sausage" cut from cold strands. No tailing or angel-hair from inadequate cooling.
No agglomeration: The water ring separates pellets instantly. No clumping. No double-pellets. Uniform particle size distribution.
Lower specific energy: Cutting at the die eliminates the energy-intensive water bath chilling, strand pulling, and cold-strand shearing of traditional strand lines.
The CX-CWR Series offers six standard models spanning 100 to 1000 kg/h, all built on the 38CrMoAlA single-screw platform with German-origin plasticizing screw geometry, Cut Compactor feeder, and Hot Die Face Water Ring cutting system.
| Model | Screw Diameter (mm) | L/D Ratio | Capacity (kg/h) | Typical Motor (kW) | Compactor Motor (kW) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CX-CWR85 | 85 | 33/10 | 100–200 | 22–30 | 15–18.5 |
| CX-CWR100 | 100 | 33/10 | 200–300 | 37–45 | 22–30 |
| CX-CWR130 | 130 | 33/10 | 300–450 | 55–75 | 30–45 |
| CX-CWR160 | 160 | 33/10 | 450–600 | 75–90 | 45–55 |
| CX-CWR180 | 180 | 33/10 | 650–750 | 90–110 | 55–75 |
| CX-CWR200 | 200 | 33/10 | 750–1000 | 110–132 | 75–90 |
All models share:
Screw & Barrel: 38CrMoAlA nitride-hardened (900-1000 HV surface), feed zone special alloy treated
Screw Design: German plasticizing technology — optimized compression ratio, mixing section, and venting zone
Gearbox: High-torque, low-noise, external cooling circulation system
Heating: Multi-zone PID temperature control
Screen Changer: Hydraulic high-speed non-stop screen changer
Pelletizing: Hot die face water ring cutting system
Automation: PLC with touchscreen HMI
Feeding Conveyor Belt → Metal Detector (Optional) → Cut Compactor Feeder → Single Screw Extruder (First Stage) → Hydraulic Screen Changer → Hot Die Face Water Ring Cutting → Water Cooling Tank → Dewatering Machine → Vibrating Screen (Optional) → Air Conveyor → Silo
The single-stage configuration is optimized for clean, pre-washed film and foam scrap — material with low residual contamination where a single melt filtration stage is sufficient. This is the most energy-efficient, smallest-footprint, and lowest-capital-cost configuration.
Feeding Conveyor Belt → Metal Detector (Optional) → Cut Compactor Feeder → Single Screw Extruder (First Stage) → Hydraulic Screen Changer → Split Die Head → Single Screw Extruder (Second Stage) → Hydraulic Screen Changer → Hot Die Face Water Ring Cutting → Water Cooling Tank → Dewatering Machine → Vibrating Screen (Optional) → Air Conveyor → Silo
The dual-stage configuration adds a second extrusion and filtration stage. The first stage melts the material, filters coarse contaminants through the first screen changer, and degasses volatile compounds (moisture, residual printing ink solvents, adhesive residues). The melt exits through a split die head that transfers it to the second-stage extruder. The second stage homogenizes the melt further — ensuring uniform temperature, viscosity, and dispersion — and passes it through a finer second screen changer before the die face. For heavily printed film, agricultural film with soil residues, or mixed-grade post-consumer waste, the dual-stage route produces pellet quality that rivals virgin-grade material.
Chenxing Machinery offers two advanced feeding technologies for film and foam recycling. Understanding their differences ensures you select the right line for your feedstock.
| Criterion | CX-CWR (Cut Compactor) | Side Force Feeder Line |
|---|---|---|
| Feeding Mechanism | Rotating blades cut + compact material; frictional heat preheats | Secondary screw forces material into extruder through positive displacement |
| Best for Bulk Density | Ultra-low: 10–150 kg/m3 (EPS foam, film, fluff) | Low: 80–250 kg/m3 (washed film flake, woven bags) |
| EPS Foam | Yes — compactor collapses foam structure | No — foam too low-density for screw grip |
| Preheating | Yes — frictional heat raises material to 80–120°C before extruder | None — cold feed into extruder |
| Material Pre-Conditioning | Cuts, compacts, and pre-plastifies | No size reduction — material enters as-is |
| Throughput via Compacted Density | 3-8x density increase from compaction | 1-2x effective density increase from screw packing |
| Pellet Roundness | Near-spherical (water ring hot cut) | Cylindrical or lenticular (strand or water ring) |
| Ideal Application | EPS foam, agricultural film, tangled LDPE, mixed film/fluff, heavily printed film | Clean washed film flakes, woven bags, consistent PE/PP flake |
| Capital Cost (same capacity) | Higher (compactor + water ring) | Lower (screw feeder + simple hopper or strand) |
| Operating Cost | Lower energy per kg (preheating reduces extruder heating load) | Higher energy per kg (extruder heats from ambient) |
| Maintenance | Blade replacement every 6-12 months | Lower; no cutting blades |
Choose CX-CWR if you process EPS foam, heavily tangled agricultural film, low-density fluff, or mixed film waste from post-consumer sources. The compactor's cutting action is essential when the material cannot be conveyed reliably by a screw.
Choose Side Force Feeder if your feedstock is clean, consistently washed film flake with no foam content, and you prioritize lower capital cost and simpler maintenance.
Feature: Vertical drum compactor with rotary cutting blades and stationary knives, mounted directly above the extruder feed throat. Material enters from the top; cut, compacted, and preheated material exits directly into the extruder screw.
Advantage: For EPS foam (10-30 kg/m3), ultra-low-density agricultural film, and tangled post-consumer LDPE, feeding is impossible without mechanical intervention. Gravity does not work — the material is too light. Screw forcing (side feeder) reaches a practical limit — EPS foam resists screw grip and simply rotates with the screw without advancing. The Cut Compactor solves this by cutting the material into fragments that no longer interlock (destroying the bridging structure), compacting it through frictional heat to 3-8x the incoming bulk density (creating a flowable mass), and preheating it to 80-120°C (reducing the extruder's heating burden). This three-in-one action — cut, compact, preheat — transforms unfeedable waste into processable feedstock.
Benefit: Materials that recyclers previously landfilled — EPS foam packaging, contaminated agricultural film, tangled stretch wrap — become profitable pellet feedstock. A recycler processing 500 kg/h of EPS foam with the CX-CWR produces 490 kg/h of saleable GPPS/HIPS pellets (EPS yields ~98% after compaction and extrusion). Revenue per ton: $600-900 for recycled PS pellets. Material that was previously a disposal cost becomes an income source. For mixed film operations, the compactor increases effective throughput by 30-50% compared to a gravity-fed line at the same screw diameter, because the material entering the extruder is denser, preheated, and uniform.
Feature: Single-screw geometry with compression ratio, mixing section, and venting zone optimized through German plasticizing technology. Screw and barrel are 38CrMoAlA nitride-hardened to 900-1000 HV, with the feed zone receiving additional special alloy treatment.
Advantage: Film and foam recycling involves variable feedstock — different polymers, different thicknesses, different contamination levels — arriving at the extruder screw as a compacted, preheated mass from the compactor. The screw must complete the melting, homogenize the melt to uniform temperature and viscosity, and vent volatiles (moisture, residual solvents, printing ink decomposition products) in a single pass. The German-designed screw geometry achieves this through an optimized compression profile that progressively increases shear, a barrier-flight mixing section that eliminates unmelted inclusions, and a venting zone that extracts volatiles under vacuum (in dual-stage configuration). The 38CrMoAlA nitride hardening — the same specification used in compounding extruders processing filled and reinforced polymers — ensures the screw maintains its geometry and plastication efficiency over years of abrasive recycled feedstock service.
Benefit: Consistent pellet quality regardless of feedstock variation within the material grade. Melt temperature uniformity of ±2°C. No unmelted inclusions in finished pellets — a critical quality requirement for downstream film and injection molding applications. Screw service life of 3-5 years in continuous recycling duty before geometry degradation requires replacement.
Feature: Rotating cutter blades working against a heated die face, with surrounding centrifugal water ring for instantaneous pellet cooling and conveyance.
Advantage: Traditional strand pelletizing draws molten strands through a water bath, air-dries them, and shears them cold in a rotating-knife cutter. This produces cylindrical pellets with cut surfaces that can exhibit "tailing" — small plastic whiskers at the cut point where the knife did not fully shear the cold strand. Tails cause downstream feeding problems (bridging in pneumatic conveyors, inconsistent metering in injection molding), increase dust generation, and reduce perceived pellet quality. Hot die face cutting eliminates tailing — the cut is made while the polymer is still plastic, producing a clean, round surface. The water ring instantaneously quenches the pellet surface, preventing agglomeration without requiring a long water bath. Pellets are near-spherical (lenticular) — the shape preferred for pneumatic conveying, gravimetric dosing, and injection molding feed.
Benefit: Pellets that command a premium in the recycled resin market — $50-100/ton above cylindrical strand-cut pellets in some markets. Improved downstream processing: better flow in hoppers, more consistent metering, less dust generation. Reduced quality complaints and returns. For recyclers selling to injection molders and blown film extruders — the highest-value recycled resin markets — round, uniform pellets are a competitive advantage.
Feature: Optional second-stage extruder with intermediate split die head and second hydraulic screen changer. The first stage melts and degasses; the second stage homogenizes and fine-filters.
Advantage: Post-consumer film and foam waste carries contaminants that a single melt filtration stage cannot fully address: residual moisture (5-15% in agricultural film), printing ink solvents, adhesive residues from labels and tape, degraded polymer fractions from UV exposure. In a single-stage line, these contaminants pass through the screen (which traps particulates above ~200 microns but not dissolved volatiles) and enter the pellets. The dual-stage system solves this at three levels: the first-stage extruder melts the material and vents volatiles through a vacuum degassing port (removing moisture and VOCs); the first screen changer filters coarse particles; the split die head transfers the melt to the second stage without exposing it to atmosphere (preventing re-oxidation); and the second-stage extruder homogenizes the melt and passes it through a finer second screen (down to 100-120 microns). The result is polymer quality approaching virgin-grade in residual volatiles and particulate contamination.
Benefit: Access to higher-value markets — including food-contact PET/PE preform applications, medical-grade film, and high-clarity blown film — that require near-virgin pellet quality. Recyclers who currently sell washed flake because they cannot meet pellet quality standards can enter the pellet market. A dual-stage CX-CWR line processes post-consumer agricultural film into pellets suitable for new agricultural film production — closing the loop.
Feature: Helical gear transmission with optimized tooth profile for constant-velocity mesh, external oil cooling and circulation system, and noise-isolating mounting.
Advantage: Recycling extruder gearboxes operate under harsh conditions: high torque at low screw speeds (50-120 RPM), frequent start/stop cycles if feedstock supply is intermittent, and ambient factory heat. Standard industrial gearboxes — designed for constant-speed, clean-duty applications — degrade within 12-24 months in recycling service. The CX-CWR's gearbox is purpose-designed for recycling: helical gears with modified tooth profiles reduce mesh noise, an external forced-oil cooling system maintains oil temperature below 60°C (extending oil and bearing life), and vibration-isolating mounts decouple the gearbox from the factory floor.
Benefit: Gearbox service intervals of 5+ years in continuous recycling duty — no rebuilds, no bearing replacements. Noise levels compliant with 85 dB(A) workplace standards without acoustic enclosures. The external cooling system eliminates oil degradation — no carbonized oil deposits in gear teeth, no reduced lubrication from viscosity breakdown.
Feature: PLC-based centralized control with touchscreen HMI, automatic multi-zone PID temperature regulation, inverter-driven screw speed control, melt pressure monitoring with alarm/stop logic, and optional remote monitoring.
Advantage: The CX-CWR's automation handles every controlled variable: compactor speed (adjusting cutting intensity to feedstock), extruder barrel temperatures (12-18 zones, ±1°C), screw RPM (inverter-controlled), screen changer hydraulic pressure and cycle timing, water ring flow rate and temperature, and downstream equipment coordination. The operator sets the recipe — material type, target throughput, pellet size — and the PLC maintains process parameters. Alarms trigger on deviation, and safety interlocks prevent cascading failures. The compactor auto-adjusts: if the extruder motor current drops (indicating underfeeding), compactor speed increases to push more material into the feed throat.
Benefit: Labor cost of 1-2 workers per line — the same as a simple gravity-fed line, but with 2-5x the effective throughput for low-density materials. Consistent pellet quality from the first shift to the hundredth — no operator-dependent variation. One operator can monitor 2-3 lines from a central panel. The automation enables remote diagnostics — Chenxing engineers can troubleshoot via internet connection, reducing downtime.
Feature: All components — conveyor, metal detector, compactor, extruder(s), screen changer(s), water ring pelletizer, water tank, dewatering machine, vibrating screen, air conveyor, silo — designed and integrated by Chenxing Machinery.
Advantage: Multi-vendor pelletizing lines create three risks: integration failure (components from different suppliers do not work together at the designed throughput), diffused responsibility (when the line does not perform, each supplier blames the others), and service fragmentation (separate warranty terms, separate service calls). The CX-CWR integrates every component from a single engineering team. The compactor is sized to the extruder capacity; the extruder is sized to the pelletizer throughput; the water ring is sized to the cooling demand; and every component is mechanically and electrically integrated before shipment.
Benefit: One installation team. One commissioning process. One supplier taking full responsibility for the line's performance from startup. One phone call for any issue. Faster issue resolution. Clear accountability. The relationship is direct — Chenxing engineers designed the line, and Chenxing engineers support it.
| Criterion | Single-Stage (CX-CWR-SS) | Dual-Stage (CX-CWR-DS) |
|---|---|---|
| Feedstock | Clean washed film, industrial scrap, pre-sorted post-consumer | Mixed post-consumer, agricultural film, heavily printed film, high-moisture waste |
| Contamination Level | <3% (paper labels, light dust) | 3-15% (soil, adhesives, printing ink, moisture) |
| Volatiles Removal | Basic (vented barrel) | Full (vacuum degassing between stages) |
| Filtration Fineness | Single screen: 200-300 micron | Dual screen: first 250-400 micron, second 100-150 micron |
| Pellet Quality | Good — suitable for general extrusion and molding | Excellent — near-virgin for blown film, food-contact, high-clarity |
| Energy (kWh/kg) | 0.35-0.45 | 0.45-0.60 |
| Footprint | Smaller (12-18m line length) | Larger (20-28m line length) |
| Capital Cost | Lower | Higher (approx. +30-45%) |
| Payback via Pellet Premium | — | 6-12 months from the price delta between general-grade and high-grade pellets |
| Recommended For | Industrial film scrap recyclers, in-house recycling, clean-source post-industrial waste | Commercial recyclers processing post-consumer waste, agricultural film, or selling to high-end pellet buyers |
A recycler processing 500 kg/h of post-consumer agricultural film — contaminated with soil, moisture, and degraded polymer — faces two options with the CX-CWR:
Single-stage: Produces pellets with 3-5% residual contamination, selling at 1.8-2.25M.
Dual-stage: Produces pellets with <0.5% contamination, selling at 2.55-3.3M.
The dual-stage upgrade — approximately 30-45% additional capital — pays back in under 12 months from the pellet price premium alone, and opens markets that the single-stage pellets cannot serve. For commercial recyclers, dual-stage is not an expense — it is the price of market access to the highest-value recycled resin buyers.
| Material | Bulk Density (Input) | Compactor Settings | Extruder Temp Profile | Throughput (% Rated) | Pellet Application |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPS Foam | 10-30 kg/m3 | High compactor speed; foam collapses rapidly under friction | 190-230°C (GPPS/HIPS melt) | 90-95% | Injection molding, XPS foam re-expansion |
| LDPE Stretch Film | 80-120 kg/m3 | Medium compactor speed; watch for over-compaction melting in compactor | 160-200°C | 95-100% | New stretch film, garbage bags, sheet extrusion |
| LLDPE Agricultural Film | 90-130 kg/m3 | Medium-high speed; pre-dry if >2% moisture | 170-210°C | 90-95% | Agricultural film, construction film |
| HDPE Film (bags) | 100-150 kg/m3 | Medium speed; HDPE film is stiffer, cuts easily | 180-230°C | 95-100% | Bottle-grade HDPE, pipe, injection molding |
| PP Film (BOPP/CPP) | 80-120 kg/m3 | Medium-high speed; PP film is thin but tough to cut | 190-240°C | 90-95% | PP injection molding, fiber, strapping |
| PP Woven Bags | 150-250 kg/m3 | High speed; woven structure requires aggressive cutting | 190-240°C | 85-90% | PP raffia, strapping, injection molding |
| Mixed LDPE/LLDPE | 80-130 kg/m3 | Medium speed; temperature must balance both grades | 160-210°C | 90-95% | General-purpose extrusion, garbage bags |
EPS Foam: Can be fed whole — the compactor collapses the foam structure. No pre-crushing needed. Ensure the material is dry — water in EPS foam generates steam in the compactor and can cause surging. A CJ magnetic frame on the feed conveyor is recommended to capture tramp metal (staples, nails) often found in demolition EPS foam.
Film: Pre-wash and dry. Moisture >2% requires pre-drying with an STG-U hopper drier at 80°C for 2 hours. Large film bundles should be broken apart before the conveyor — a plastic crusher set to 50-80mm screen for pre-conditioning large bales.
Woven Bags: Remove metal buckles and zippers with a CJ magnetic frame and manual inspection. Pre-cut bags >500mm into smaller pieces for even compactor feeding.
Mixed Post-Consumer: Dual-stage recommended. Include metal detection on the conveyor. Screen the first-stage screen changer at 250-400 micron to protect the second-stage screen (100-150 micron) from premature blinding.
EPS foam at 10-30 kg/m3 is 95-98% air by volume. A screw feeder relies on the screw flights gripping and advancing the material — but EPS foam offers virtually no resistance to the screw. The foam simply rotates with the screw or, worse, floats above it without advancing. A compactor feeder takes a different approach: rotating blades physically cut the foam into fragments, breaking the cellular structure. Frictional heat then collapses the foam (the cells contract as the entrapped gas heats up), reducing volume by 30-50x. What enters the extruder feed throat is not foam but a dense, molten PS mass. The compactor does not try to convey the foam — it destroys the foam and conveys the melt.
In strand pelletizing, molten polymer strands are drawn through a water bath, air-dried, and sheared cold. The cut is a brittle fracture — it can leave "tails" (whiskers of plastic at the cut point), generate dust, and produce cylindrical pellets that do not flow as well as round pellets in pneumatic systems and gravimetric feeders. In water ring hot die face cutting, the pellets are cut at the die while the polymer is still hot and plastic — the cut is clean, with no tails or dust. The rotating water ring instantaneously quenches the pellet surface, producing near-spherical (lenticular) pellets. Round pellets flow better, meter more consistently in injection molding and extrusion, and command a premium of $50-100/ton in many recycled resin markets.
Choose dual-stage when your feedstock has >3% contamination or when your customers require near-virgin pellet quality. Dual-stage adds a vacuum degassing step (removing moisture and volatile organic compounds from printing inks and adhesive residues) and a second, finer filtration stage (100-150 micron vs. 200-300 micron in single-stage). This is essential for post-consumer agricultural film (soil, moisture, degraded polymer), heavily printed packaging film (ink solvent residues), and mixed-grade post-consumer waste. If your feedstock is clean industrial film scrap from a single source, single-stage is sufficient — and costs 30-45% less in capital.
The CX-CWR processes PP film, LDPE film, LLDPE film, HDPE film, EPS foam, PP woven bags, and most other soft PE/PP waste. However, simultaneous processing of mixed polymer types in a single batch is not recommended — PE and PP have different melt temperatures (PE 160-230°C, PP 190-240°C) and are immiscible. Processing a PP/PE mix at a compromise temperature produces pellets with internal phase separation — poor mechanical properties and inconsistent processing in downstream applications. For operations with multiple materials, batch-process each material separately, purging the extruder between batches (approximately 30-60 minutes of purge time). The strand pelletizing route eases batch changeover, but the water ring route is also manageable with the compactor serving as a purge chamber — simply run the compactor empty between batches.
Water ring pelletizing integrates cutting and cooling at the die face — there is no 4-8 meter water bath to chill, no strand pulling/haul-off unit drawing power, and no separate strand cutter motor. The water ring uses a small circulating pump (typically 2-5 kW) and the same cooling water that later runs through the pellet cooling tank. Strand pelletizing requires a water bath circulation pump, strand haul-off motor, and cutter motor — typically totaling 7-15 kW of auxiliary power for a 500 kg/h line. The energy saving from water ring vs. strand is approximately 5-10 kW per line, or 0.10/kWh, 6000 hours). The more significant benefit is footprint reduction — the water ring eliminates 4-8 meters of water bath length — and the round pellet quality premium.
The CX-CWR in dual-stage configuration with fine filtration (100-120 micron second screen), vacuum degassing, and careful feedstock management can produce pellets with contamination levels below the thresholds for many food-contact applications under regulatory frameworks like EFSA (EU) and FDA (US) positive-list approvals. However, "food-grade" recycled PE is a regulatory certification — not a machine specification. The CX-CWR provides the technical capability (degassing, dual filtration, homogenization) that meets the processing requirements. The recycler must obtain the feedstock approval and product certification from the relevant regulatory body for their specific application and market. Chenxing's engineering team can provide the machine specifications and process data required for the certification submission.
For a CX-CWR160 (450-600 kg/h, single-stage) processing washed LDPE film, the production cost per ton of pellets is approximately 35-55/ton at 15-25/ton at 1.5 operators), water (3-5/ton), blades/compactor maintenance (10-20/ton). Amortization of the machine capital (typically 5-7 year depreciation) adds 120-180/ton. With washed film flake feedstock at 600-900/ton, the gross margin is $120-420/ton — a healthy margin that explains why compactor-fed water ring lines are the most popular configuration among commercial film recyclers globally.
Step 1 — Characterize Your Feedstock: Identify your primary materials (EPS foam? LDPE film? PP woven bags? Mixed post-consumer?), annual volume, incoming form (bald, loose, pre-washed?), contamination level, and target pellet application. This determines whether single-stage or dual-stage is optimal and which CX-CWR model matches your capacity.
Step 2 — Select Your Configuration: Our engineering team maps your feedstock to the optimal CX-CWR configuration — model size, single or dual stage, compactor blade configuration, screen pack specifications, and any optional equipment (metal detector, pre-crusher, magnetic frame, dryer). We provide a complete line proposal with specifications, floor plan, and pricing.
Step 3 — Contact Nicole for a Quote: Send your feedstock details, target capacity, and pellet quality requirements to Nicole. We will prepare a tailored quotation within 24 hours, including equipment, installation supervision, commissioning, and operator training.
Step 4 — Install, Commission, and Start Recycling: Chenxing provides on-site installation supervision, commissioning, operator training, and a spares kit (compactor blades, screen packs, die plates, seals). After commissioning, your CX-CWR line runs with 1-2 operators — converting EPS foam, agricultural film, and post-consumer film waste into round, uniform, high-value pellets from day one. Our after-sales team provides ongoing support, and spare parts ship within 48 hours.
For complementary equipment that completes your recycling plant, explore Chenxing's full range: plastic crushers for pre-conditioning, CJ magnetic frames for tramp metal protection, STG-U hopper driers for pre-drying, high-speed mixers for blending, and vibrating screens for post-production classification. If your recycling process continues to powder grinding, see our SMF disc grinding pulverizer and SMP knife pulverizer series. For thinner film materials, compare with our side force feeder pelletizing line — optimized for washed film flakes that do not require the compactor's cutting and compaction action.
Contact Chenxing Machinery Today:
Contact Person: Nicole
Phone / WhatsApp: +8615951187228
Email: ceo@cxsljx.com
Company: Zhangjiagang Chenxing Machinery Co., Ltd.
Website: www.chenxingmachinery.com