CASE STUDY:  Good things come in small packages, with a classic example to be found at additive supplier Amfine. Running into serious problems with a dryer used to prepare nucleating agents, the company was able to replace a seal on a vacuum dryer and save a $1 million project.

Seals and other replacement parts often do not get much thought from the plastics community until it's rime to refurbish or conduct scheduled maintenance on a piece of equipment.

There are times, though, when a bad seal can bring an entire project to a halt, as additives and PVC stabilizer supplier Amfine Chemical Corp. (Hopkinsville, KY) discovered when it was ramping up a line to produce a nucleating agent that also serves as a clarifying agent for semicrystalline polymers.  The process required removing a solvent, accurate temperature control and  a deep vacuum. 

Read the comprehensive case study