Equipment and process for producing polymer pellets

A process for producing a crosslinkable cable comprising a conductor and at least one crosslinkable layer surrounding said conductor, wherein said process comprises:

• producing a crosslinkable polymer composition for said at least one crosslinkable layer using polymer pellets;
• and
• extruding said at least one crosslinkable layer on a conductor using the obtained polymer composition,
• wherein said process has one or more polymer components and one or more further components, wherein in said process at least one of said one or more further components is incorporated into pellets by applying said at least one further components onto said pellets, said process comprising:
• providing at least one first mixing apparatus comprising,
• an inlet for feeding polymer pellets into said first mixing apparatus,
• a first mixing section provided with a mixing device for moving and mixing a pellet stream along said section,
• at least one application device for applying said at least one further components onto fed polymer pellets at one or more positions, whereby the at least one application device is arranged in the first mixing section to extend at least partly within the polymer pellet stream as such that said at least one application device is in direct contact with the polymer pellet stream, and
• an outlet for removing the mixed pellet stream from said first mixing section;
• feeding polymer pellets in said first mixing section arranged to cause the fed polymer pellets to flow and mix through one or more of the following movements, vibration and oscillation, wherein vibration or oscillation of the pellet stream is caused by one or more of a vibration causing apparatus or oscillation causing apparatus which is arranged outside the first mixing section in operational contact therewith, and the pellet stream moves horizontally or essentially horizontally in a non-gravimetrical flow along an elongated first mixing section from an inlet arranged at one end of said elongated mixing section towards an outlet arranged at the other end of said elongated mixing section, and no moving mixing device is present inside said first mixing section, wherein the degree of filling of the polymer pellets in said first mixing section is more than 20% of the volume of said first mixing section, wherein the first mixing section itself does not rotate 360° around the axis that is parallel to the flow direction of the pellet stream;
• applying said at least one further components via said at least one application device onto the polymer pellets at a position selected from one or more of prior to said apparatus, at said inlet of said apparatus and/or within said first mixing section of said apparatus and recovering the obtained pellets in a conventional manner.