Romcolor industrial complex at Copaceni — a masterbatch factory (concentrate of pigments and additives for plastics) developed for Romcolor 2000 SA, part of the Greek group Plastika Kritis SA, present in over 10 countries and one of the main European producers of masterbatch and agricultural film. PPAE has been designing the complex from scratch since 2009, with three successive extensions carried out in parallel with production — a collaboration of over 16 years that has accompanied the company's growth on the site.

Challenges

Romcolor produces masterbatch by extruding polymers with pigments and additives — a technological process that makes the factory a major energy consumer, through the processing temperatures (180-210 °C at the level of the extruders) and through the related cooling, ventilation and extraction systems. Added to this is the continuity of design: each new stage involved extending a facility in full operation, without interrupting the production flows, and the complexity of the intervention increases at each step, as the complex densifies and the interactions between bodies multiply.

Solutions

• Three extension stages carried out over 16 years. Phase 1 — the main body with the production hall, the storage hall and the administrative building with a quality-control laboratory — handed over in 2010. Phase 2 — the extension of the storage area — handed over in 2018. Phase 3 — successive extensions of the production hall and staff amenities (changing rooms, canteen, container washing) — in progress. Each stage was integrated into the existing complex without interrupting production, with close coordination on the flows, utilities and connections between bodies.
• Reducing the energy footprint through heat recovery and photovoltaics. During the recent stages, the project integrated solutions for harnessing the energy lost in the extrusion process — heat recovery from equipment cooling — and for the local production of electricity through a rooftop photovoltaic installation on the halls. These are relevant solutions for a typology with high energy consumption, where every reduction translates directly into operational costs and carbon footprint.
• Technological typology for polymer extrusion. The production halls are sized for heavy equipment, with high-power electrical installations, ventilation and extraction calibrated for the thermal emissions of the extruders, special solutions for handling big-bags of raw material and for finished-product flows on pallets.

Result

For Romcolor and the Plastika Kritis group, an industrial complex that has grown continuously over 16 years, maintaining architectural and operational coherence through all stages. For PPAE, a lasting collaboration that confirms the team's ability to go through all phases together with an international industrial beneficiary, from concept to successive extensions, in a technological typology rare in the Romanian design market.

Do you have an investment in a plastics factory, an extension of a production unit, or a lasting collaboration with a designer for the growth of an industrial complex? The PPAE team can support your project from concept to completion. Contact us