The industrial gases specialist Messer is presenting its solutions for the cryogenic grinding of composite materials, plastics and foodstuffs at the Powtech 2016 in Nuremberg (Hall 4A, Stand 4A-531).

The fields of application of the materials could hardly be more varied, but the grinding process is always adapted to the different requirements. Messer's cryogenic processes use cryogenic gases, such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide, and allow a wide range of different materials to be pulverised or recycled. These not only include thermoplastics, elastomers, waxes and paint additives but also spices, which would lose their aroma and flavour substances due to the high temperatures involved during the grinding process. At the Powtech 2016 in Nuremberg from the 19th to the 21st of April, Messer will be showing grinding samples from the rubber and elastomers, foods and spices, thermoplastic polymers and composite material separation processing sectors. The world's largest privately managed industrial gases manufacturer is an international supplier of cryogenic gas applications for the powder production and operates its own cryogenic grinding and recycling technical centre near Krefeld, Germany, where its conducts grinding trials using customer products.

Cryogenic grinding and separation of composite materials

During the cryogenic grinding process, the materials to be ground are cooled with liquid nitrogen or carbon dioxide to make them brittle resulting in a particularly fine grain. This allows composite materials to be separated into their individual components in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly manner. Messer is a single-source supplier of all the gases and hardware that are required. Sample batches are produced, grinding parameters determined and production costs estimated at Messer's cryogenic grinding and recycling technical centre.

The entire plant set-up serves as a reference, as it corresponds to a production plant. The results obtained here are of particular interest because they can be applied to large-scale production, too.