Used Plastic Pelletizing Lines & Extruder Pelletizers

A pelletizing line melts plastic, filters it, and cuts it into uniform pellets that can be stored, shipped, and fed into the next process. The line pairs an extruder with a screen changer, a die, a pelletizer, a water system, and a pellet dryer. Compounders use pelletizing lines to mix fillers, colorants, and additives into resin. A plastic recycling line is the same system with a cutter compactor, densifier, or grinder at the front end, so it can take loose scrap, regrind, and film and turn them back into pellets.

Federal Equipment Company stocks used plastic pelletizing lines as part of our used extrusion lines inventory. The selection covers water ring, underwater, and strand pelletizing systems on single- and twin-screw extruders, from 18 mm laboratory lines to 12-inch production extruders. Brands we see regularly include Erema, Leistritz, Davis-Standard, Gloucester, Coperion, Thermo Scientific, and Hydreclaim, with Gala and Beringer pelletizers on many of the lines. Most units are held at our Cleveland, OH facility and are available for inspection.

Can't Find What You Need?

Request Sourcing Help Tell us the resin, the throughput, and the pellet size you need. We will look for a complete line or the pieces to build one.

Sell Your Equipment We buy surplus pelletizing and recycling lines, along with the extruders, screen changers, and pelletizers that make them up. Send us a list, and we will make an offer.

Browse our selection below and request a quote for more information regarding our Used Plastic Pelletizing Lines & Extruder Pelletizers.

You can also view our full on-hand inventory across all categories.

A pelletizing line is a matched system, not a single machine. The extruder sets the throughput. The screen changer sets how clean the melt is. The pelletizer, water system, and dryer have to keep pace with both. Buying a complete line means those pieces were sized to each other and ran together in production. If you need only the cutting end, standalone underwater pelletizers and strand pelletizers and dicers have their own categories.

The pelletizer decides how the line cuts. On a water ring line, a cutter at the die face slices the melt and throws the pellets into a spinning ring of water. On an underwater line, the die face sits in a water box, and a tempered water system carries the pellets to a spin dryer. On a strand line, the melt leaves the die as strands, runs through a water bath and an air wipe, and is chopped by a strand pelletizer. Dry die-face cutters, cooled by air rather than water, round out the category.

Recycling lines add a front end built for loose, low-bulk-density scrap. Erema lines feed a cutter compactor or a preconditioning densifier straight into a vented extruder, then filter the melt, often through a laser or backflush screen changer, before pelletizing. Hydreclaim reclaim systems feed a single-screw extruder from grinders and a fluff tank, or through a side-feed screw.

Model families recur in this category, and buyers tend to search by them. We handle Erema INTAREMA TVEplus and RM TVE recycling lines, Leistritz Micro 18 and Micro 27 counter-rotating twin-screw lines, Coperion ZSK Mega Compounder lines with Maag and Gala underwater pelletizing, Thermo Scientific Haake Pharma bench-scale lines, Gala SLC6 underwater pelletizers, and Beringer WRP water ring pelletizers.

Applications & Industries

  • Plastics recycling: reprocessing production scrap, regrind, and film into pellets that go back into the process or out for sale. Erema and Hydreclaim reclaim lines are built for this work.
  • Polymer compounding: mixing fillers, colorants, and additives into a base resin on co-rotating twin-screw lines, then strand or underwater pelletizing the compound. Conical twin-screw lines with hot-cut pelletizers handle PVC compound.
  • Batch mixer discharge: ram-fed dump extruders with short barrels sit under an internal mixer and pelletize each batch as it drops.
  • Pharmaceutical hot-melt extrusion: bench-scale twin-screw lines, including Thermo Scientific Haake Pharma units, pelletize drug and polymer extrudate for milling, capsule filling, or tableting.
  • Laboratory and pilot work: formulation trials and small-batch compounding on 18 mm to 27 mm twin-screw lines with strand pelletizers and gravimetric feeders.

Specifications & Configurations

Specification Range
Single-screw diameter 0.75" to 12"
Twin-screw diameter 18 mm to 92 mm
Extruder types Single-screw, co-rotating twin-screw, counter-rotating twin-screw, and conical twin-screw
Extruder drive power 1.5 kW (2 HP) to 560 kW (750 HP)
L/D ratio 5.5:1 to 56:1
Rated throughput, Erema INTAREMA 850 to 3,500 kg/hr, depending on feed material
Tempered water systems 40 to 600 gpm
Cutter compactors, Erema RM TVE Approximately 33 to 50 cu ft
Pelletizing methods Water ring, underwater, strand, and dry die-face cutting
Water-side construction Stainless steel water boxes, water slides, and dewatering screens

Design variants. Vented and dual-vented barrels with vacuum degassing, cascade degassing extruders, ram-fed dump extruders, side-fed reclaim extruders, and air-cooled or water-cooled barrels.

Melt filtration and handling. Manual, dual-bolt, hydraulic slide-plate, continuous, rotary, backflush, and laser filter screen changers, plus melt pumps and polymer diverter valves.

Common options. Gravimetric and volumetric feeders, cutter compactors and preconditioning densifiers, inclined belt conveyors with metal detectors, spin and centrifugal pellet dryers, vibrating and two-deck pellet classifiers, and pellet transport systems with cyclone collectors.

Why Buy Used

A new pelletizing line is engineered to order. The extruder, filtration, pelletizer, water system, and controls are specified together, with lead times measured in months. A used line of the same size typically costs a fraction of the new price, and it arrives as a system that has already run together.

The parts that wear are the screws, barrels, die plates, cutter blades, and screens, and all of them are replaceable. Lines that have come through our inventory have carried replacement screws, rebuilt gearboxes, and new compactor motors on record. A gearbox and frame in sound condition have years of service left.

Every line is inspected when it arrives at our Cleveland, OH facility, and it is available for customer inspection before purchase. Refurbishment and run testing can be arranged upon request. Proving the line on your own resin and throughput remains with the buyer.