Meldgaard recovers metals from US WTE ash

Capturing ferrous and nonferrous metals from waste-to-energy (WTE) ash is a growing business around the world. It is also an evolving business with even more powerful magnets being continuously developed and more elaborate systems designed every year.

Meldgaard of Denmark says this has been the company’s bread and butter for more than 20 years. The company says it was extracting ferrous and nonferrous metals from ash so it could produce an aggregate for the Danish construction industry. Now the company says it is helping its WTE clients, including those in thh U.S., realize revenue from its ash recycling process. 

The company says a significant difference between European and American WTE ash is that in Europe the bottom ash is kept separate from the fly ash; however, in the U.S., the WTE ashes are typically combined, leading to challenges when dealing with the lime content of the fly ash. Meldgaard says it rose to this challenge with detailed designs for advanced ash handling processes.

The company now has three operating ash recycling plants in the U.S., each one slightly different since ash is different from each WTE plant. Each plant also is processing ash at a different stage in the ash handling process, either directly from the plant without any buffer storage through to processing on monofills with ash being stockpiled for several weeks.

The company’s latest ash recycling plant is integrated into the ash handing system of the WTE plant such that the removal of ash for disposal is not interfered with at all. “The trucks loading the ash have no idea we have already extracted the valuable metals from the ash to share with the WTE plant operator,” the company explains in a press release.

The company says it wasn’t an easy feat since 500 tons of ash is delivered daily by conveyor straight from the WTE plant to the Meldgaard’s feed hopper. That ash is still moist and fresh from the ash bunker making it difficult for current U.S. recyclers to process. However, by drawing on its more than 20 years’ experience in designing and operating ash recycling, Meldgaard says it was able to develop a unique system for the ash processing and is now extracting record levels of nonferrous metals.

With a throughput of nearly 200,000 tons annually, the company says it is proud to have designed, manufactured and installed this ash recycling plant on American soil and looks forward to using the technological systems for additional U.S. facilities.