Integrated Anti-Bridging Feeding System for Recycled Plastic Extrusion

Yongte Integrated Rotary Agitation & Twin-Screw Feeding System Solves Recycled Plastic Bridging Pain Point

Yongte’s proprietary solution effectively eliminates bridging issues commonly encountered with recycled plastic feedstock.

Within our plastic recycling and reprocessing equipment and system packages, a large number of customers run extrusion production directly using crushed plastic flakes. These flakes tend to interlock and form stable arch structures inside the hopper cone, blocking material flow and causing the well-known bridging problem. To tackle this long-standing challenge, Yongte has developed a custom combination of a rotary agitation system and twin-screw feeding system.

1. How the Rotary Agitation System Breaks Material Arching

Fitted with low-speed rotary agitator arms, the rotary agitation system performs continuous circular sweeping above the hopper cone and discharge opening. It continuously shears and disturbs the base of material arches to break down self-supporting structures. Meanwhile, it scrapes flakes adhering to the hopper wall toward the central discharge port. This prevents recurring bridging, rat-holing and material flow interruptions, and guarantees consistent feed delivery to the extruder.

2. Precise Metering Delivered by the Co‑Rotating Twin‑Screw Feeder

The twin-screw feeding system adopts a co-rotating, equal-pitch screw profile. The two screws run with precise speed synchronization to convey plastic flakes to the extruder inlet in a uniform, metered manner. Its specialised helical flights deliver superior grabbing and conveying performance for low-bulk, loose materials, minimising residual material and backflow within the screw clearance.

An independent drive motor enables dynamic screw speed adjustment according to real-time extruder load, so feed rate can be accurately matched to extrusion throughput. This further removes extrusion variability triggered by uneven feeding, boosting overall line stability and end-product consistency.

Working in tandem, the rotary agitation unit and twin-screw feeder cover the full material transfer sequence from hopper storage to extruder intake, thoroughly resolving the bottleneck of unreliable flake discharge.

3. Wider Adaptability Compared with Single-Function Feeding Equipment

Compared with stand-alone anti-bridging agitators or single-screw feeding alternatives, this integrated solution boasts wider process adaptability. It handles recycled plastic feedstock across a broad range of particle sizes and bulk densities. Whether processing lightweight film flakes or rigid hard plastic regrind, it maintains smooth, steady discharge and feeding.

Customers benefit from less manual attendance, reduced production downtime and higher overall recycling line throughput.

4. Typical Application Scenarios

This feeding package is widely deployed on various plastic recycling extrusion lines:

• PE / PP agricultural film, packaging film washing and re-pelletizing lines
• PET bottle flake recycling extrusion & sheet production lines
• Rigid plastic regrind (HDPE drums, PP crates, ABS scrap) pelletizing lines
• WPC wood-plastic composite extrusion lines using recycled plastic flakes
• Post-consumer mixed plastic recycling and reprocessing lines
• Low-bulk-density fluffy plastic scrap recycling systems

It works reliably for both wet flakes after washing lines and dry crushed regrind, supporting continuous, unattended long-run production.

5. Core Customer Benefits

• Eliminates bridging, rat-holing and intermittent feeding
• Stable feeding rate reduces extrusion fluctuation and product rejects
• Compatible with fluffy film flakes, rigid regrind and mixed recycled plastics
• Less manual hopper poking and inspection
• Higher uptime and improved overall line efficiency
• Easy integration into new recycling lines or retrofitting onto existing extruders