Global Breakthrough Under The Plastic Crisis: How The Twin-screw Pelletizer Opens A New Era Of Degradable Plastics
In 2025, the EU's comprehensive ban on traditional disposable plastic products will come into force. The global market scale of degradable plastics will exceed USD 30 billion, and China will take the lead with a share of over 40%.
At the same time, the United States formally cancelled the exemption of customs duties on imported PET and recycled PET (rPET), and India launched a new round of anti-dumping investigation on PET resins from China.
1. Global policy tightening: crisis and turnaround in plastics industry
With the increasingly serious problem of plastic pollution, countries around the world have launched strict policies, and the traditional plastic industry is facing unprecedented challenges.
Continuous upgrading of legislative specifications
The EU REACH Regulation imposes strict restrictions on microplastics. As of October 17, 2025, all enterprises selling raw materials and mixtures containing "intentionally added microplastics" in the EU market must update the product safety data sheets and labels.
In the "14th Five-Year Plan", China clearly listed the bio-based materials as a strategic emerging industry, and issued the Work Plan for Steady Growth of Light Industry (2025 - 2026), taking the development of bio-based degradation materials and products as the important direction of green transformation of light industry.
Implementation of economic incentives
Local governments in China actively support subsidy policies, and Sichuan Province specially issued policies to support the construction of degradable plastic projects, with the maximum subsidy up to 20 million yuan.
This dual drive of policy and funding has created unprecedented market opportunities for degradable plastics.
2. The Rise of Degradable Plastics: Data and Trends
Under the dual driving of policy and market, the degradable plastics industry shows explosive growth.
Stunning Growth in Capacity Data
The data shows that the annual capacity of degradable plastics in China will reach 2.13 million tons in 2024, accounting for 80% of the global total.
It is expected that by 2025, the global capacity of degradable plastics will be about 3.06 million tons, of which the capacity of China will exceed 2.58 million tons, accounting for about 82% of the global capacity.
This data indicates that degradable plastics have moved from the edge to the mainstream and become an indispensable force in the plastics industry.
Continuous optimization of technical cost
With technological progress and large-scale production, the production cost of degradable plastics is reduced significantly. The industrial mass production cost of polylactic acid (PLA) and polyhydroxyfatty acid ester (PHA) is 18% - 22% lower than that in 2023.
The cost reduction significantly increases the market competitiveness of degradable plastics, making them a viable alternative to conventional plastics in more application scenarios.
3. Double-screw extruder: core technology for production of degradable plastics
In all links of the production of degradable plastics, the twin screw extruder plays an indispensable key role and is the core equipment to achieve efficient and stable production.
Significant technical advantages
Through multi-stage temperature accurate control and continuous compression thread element design, the co-axial parallel twin screw extruder effectively solves the key technical problems in the processing of degradable materials.
When preparing the low cost thermal stability complete biodegradable plastic, the twin screw extruder can uniformly blend the polylactic acid, pretreated starch and pre-despersed powder, and ensure the material melt uniformity by accurately controlling the temperature of each section to avoid thermal degradation.
Innovative process breakthrough
Based on the characteristics of degradable plastics, the co-parallel twin screw extruder developed by Nanjing Kelongweier Chemical Machinery Co., Ltd. adopts unique screw design and temperature control system, so that the ratio (L/D) of screw length L to thread outer diameter D can reach 48 and above.
This design prolongs the retention time of the material in the cylinder and enhances the synergistic effect of the blending system, which not only improves the tensile strength of the material, but also improves the heat resistance.
4. How does twin screw process solve the production pain of degradable plastics
The production of degradable plastics faces many technical challenges, and the twin screw extruder is the key technology to solve these pain points.
Solve thermal stability problems
The thermal stability of fully biodegradable plastics is generally poor, which is easy to degrade during processing, and the heat resistance of products is insufficient. For example, Vicat softening temperature of polylactic acid (PLA) is only 50-60 ℃, which limits its application in high temperature environment.
Through the zoning heating control system and accurate temperature regulation, the twin screw extruder ensures uniform material melting, avoids the thermal degradation caused by local overheating, and significantly improves the thermal stability and consistency of the product.
High fill and uniform dispersion
Biomass materials such as starch and wood flour are often added to reduce the cost when preparing low-cost biodegradable plastics, but these materials are very easy to cause processing difficulties and mechanical property degradation.
Through continuous compression, shearing and mixing, the co-axial parallel twin screw extruder can realize uniform dispersion of high proportion filler and ensure excellent mechanical properties of final products.
5. Innovative Solutions of Nanjing COLOWE
Faced with the technical challenges of the production of degradable plastics, Nanjing Kelongweier Chemical Machinery Co., Ltd. has launched a series of innovative solutions, providing customers with a practical path to transformation.
Energy-efficient pelletizing system
The twin screw pelleting unit developed by Nanjing COLOWE integrates a number of advanced technologies, including core power system, side feed system, zoned heating control system and non-stop piston filter.
These technical advantages enable the equipment to perform excellently in the treatment of degradable plastics, with the output up to 300-500kg/h and the energy consumption reduced by about 25% compared with the traditional single-screw equipment.
Flexibility to accommodate multiple raw materials
With regard to the diversity of degradable plastic formulations, the twin screw extruder of Nanjing Kelongweier Co., Ltd. is designed with a unique side feed system, which can adapt to different forms of raw materials, including sheet, film, fiber, etc.
This flexibility enables the same equipment to handle multiple degradable plastic formulations, greatly reducing the equipment investment cost and transformation threshold of the manufacturer.
6. Future prospect of degradable plastics and twin screw technology
With the further promotion of global plastic pollution control, the future development prospects of degradable plastics and twin screw pelletizing technology are broad.
Innovation trend of technology integration
In the future, the double screw extruder will be more intelligent and integrated. Through the combination with Internet of Things and big data technology, the real-time monitoring and optimization of the production process will be realized.
There will also be continuous innovations in the formulation of degradable plastics, such as thermoplastic starch plastics made from starch and lactic acid, maleic anhydride and succinic anhydride through reactive extrusion, which can increase the tensile strength by about 4 to 30 times.
Global win-win cooperation
The Global Commitment to a New Plastic Economy, a partnership between the Ellen McArthur Foundation and the United Nations Environment Programme, has been signed by more than 400 organisations to achieve 100% recyclability, recyclability or compostability of plastic packaging.
This global collaboration will further drive the rapid development of degradable plastics technologies and markets, bringing more opportunities for technological innovations such as Nanjing COLOWE.
The global plastic industry is standing at the crossroads of transformation. The authoritative report shows that by 2025, the total global demand for recycled ingredients in packaging will exceed 5 million tons, equivalent to 25 million barrels of oil saved per year.
For prospective enterprises, investing in twin screw extruders to produce degradable plastics is not only an expedient measure to meet current policy challenges, but also a strategic layout to seize the market opportunities in the future.g.
Nanjing Kelongweier Chemical Machinery Co., Ltd.'s innovative solutions are providing global customers with a viable path to a sustainable future.
