Development of a low-cost prototype of an extruder for plastic waste

Abstract

Plastic waste is one of the biggest environmental problems worldwide, including in Indonesia. A communitybased initiative such as the waste bank is seen by many as a potential player contributing toward the alleviation of the problem. However, their sustainability in operation is very dependent on the plastic selling price which constantly fluctuates. The conversion of plastic waste, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into a higher value product by the use of a shredder and an extruder can help this matter. An extruder is a machine which can produce plastic filaments by applying a heat to the inputted shredded plastic wastes. In this work, a simple, low-cost extruder designed to be suitable to the condition of the developing nations is developed. A simple control system is applied to the system for a better temperature output. The produced filament is evaluated for consistency of density and diameter under varied temperature. The optimum temperature found is 200°C and the produced filament is observed to be within a reasonable degree of consistency in terms of diameter with an error in the range of 20%.