a mixing and processing apparatus for plastic melt is equipped with a separately drivable gear pump as a delivery unit . in order to avoid material deposits between the mixing and processing apparatus and the delivery pump , the gear pump is directly mounted at the outlet end of the mixing and processing apparatus , such as an extruder , so that the plastic melt is directly fed axially into the suction space of the gear pump . cleaning operations after shutdown or in the case of change of material are eliminated due to this direct transfer without dead space .