Passing the Test

"Lower price, less weight, smaller size, and greater speeds," is the way Margo Myers, director of analytical marketing, TN Technologies (Texas Nuclear), Austin, Texas, sums up the current trends in metal analyzing equipment.

Yet, while these trends are generally true across the board, the one area in which there is the biggest trend, smaller size, also has an opposite trend toward large size equipment. This does not imply a contradiction. For the different size units are geared toward different applications.

So, let's first take a look at what appears to be the exception rather than the rule.

Tackling the Large Assignments

"Although the trends are toward smaller and cheaper metal analyzing equipment, which is the same way everything else is going in modern electronics, smaller doesn't necessarily mean better," says Randy Moffat, vice president, sales/marketing, Angstrom, Inc., Belleville, Mich.

Angstrom has just started to distribute equipment from Arun one of the first portable spectrometer analyzers in the market, in the U.S., so Moffat is not against portables per se. He simply maintains that in some applications they are not suitable.

"Desk top systems are more flexible. You can pick one up and put it into the yard, or you can put it in a box and ship it to the next plant or across the planet," Moffat says. "But for some analyzing, the laboratory instruments used in the steel mills during the cold war some fifty years ago are still the best way to go."

Alloyed steel, along with the "vacuum" elements such as carbon, phosphorous, and sulfur, Moffat says, "are so absorbed into the product that they cannot be detected well or at all with the smaller portables. The idea that you'll be able to duplicate a laboratory analysis by standing next to the scrap heap with a portable is not possible at this point," he claims. A common price range for the typical lab instrument (as opposed to the portable desktop), Moffat says, is about $30,000 to $45,000.

To take one more look at bigger-before turning to smaller-analyzing equipment, the Bulk Scrap Analyzer from Systems Alternatives International LLC, Maumee, Ohio, should be mentioned. Jerry Martz, Systems Alternatives' vice president, marketing, says what is unique about his company's bulk scrap analyzer is that "it gives a full reading in close to real time, whereas most are designed for sampling."

Through the process called prompt gamma neutron activation, not only the surface, but also through to the very "signature" of the material, a "bombardment" of impulses is sent that results in an ongoing accurate reading of what is passing through. In short, says Martz, "The gamma rays excite the atoms in the material, which emit a profile of the chemical elements they contain."

This is not a new technology, Martz explains. It was introduced in 1984 for the aggregate and coal industry. What is new is its adaptation to the scrap industry. The unit can monitor 200 tons per hour, or more. It's now focused on two major product types, larger ferrous and stainless steel applications. In the future, Martz adds, this analyzer will be developed to work for commodity specific material, specifically aluminum or copper.

The next evolution of this machine, Martz continues, will be to increase the aperture and conveyor size. "We see applications on both ends of the supply side and receiving side of the shredder," Martz says. "The recycler has a much more accurate reading of his material, as does the mill receiving it."

A very important feature of this machine, Martz continues, "is its ability to blend material to reach an overall chemical composite desired. Other units can't do this with any degree of accuracy. This feature could be worth a couple of dollars a ton or more to have the specifications clearly measured for the mills."

This equipment can do a lot, but it also bears a significant cost-about $1 million for the unit itself, and $1 million or more for the supporting infrastructure.Small Can Also be Beautiful

If bigger can be better, smaller still can be beautiful. And this is where an important trend is heading. TN's Myers says that, "for both Niton and us, the total weight per unit is 10 pounds, about half of what it used to be." She adds that speed is also important. "Ours is twice as fast as any other on the market," she maintains. "The unit measures in two to three seconds. Even dual sources are down to two to three seconds."

The biggest trend, however, is not a new one, and that's toward reduction in price. "Back in 1990 these small systems cost about $50,000. Now everybody sells the X-ray fluorescent versions for between $33,000 and $36,000," Myers says.

"The first demand now, as always, is price," says John Patterson, president, Metorex Inc., Ewing, N.J. "Because of the down market last year, scrap dealers bought fewer instrument. But these dealers are always looking for good prices."

"Scrap dealers are increasing their requirements for analytical equipment, because they can obviously command more for sorted material," says Terry Rose, sales director, Spectro Analytical Instruments, Inc., Fitchburg, Mass. "The better you can sort the more you get paid. This has always been the case, but is even more so now. But scrap dealers want the instruments to do more for lower cost, to pay less money for more, and this seems to be the trend all the way around."

One such new performance demand that Myers reports TN is incorporating into its small units is an output to a monitor so the data can be accessed in the lab as well as in the field. The use of a touch screen with Windows software and four-color options greatly enhance performance, she remarks.

There are basically two types of analyzer instrumentation on the market, explains Rose. The first is energy dispersion X-ray fluorescent, which uses an isotropic X-ray source to do chemical analyses. The other type is an optical emission spectrometer, which uses an electrode sourced by either an AC spark or DC arc to excite the surface of the material, thereby allowing an analysis based on atomic emission principals. Each type of unit has both advantages and disadvantages.

"The X-ray mode has a fast set-up, a quick analysis time, and good portability," Rose says.

Patterson adds that, "There's a trend toward X-ray, which can generally do a better job than optical emission. X-rays have gone through major improvements over the past five years. They provide a better resolution and clearer identification, and their price has dropped fairly dramatically over the past couple of years."

The drawbacks to X-rays, Patterson says, is that they cannot comprehend many live elements, such as carbon, copper, sulfur, phosphorous, magnesium, and aluminum, and cannot distinguish between different grades of stainless steel. To this, Rose adds, "X-rays have nuclear sources, so require nuclear licensing and periodic replacements."

In terms of optical emissions, the pros, Rose says, "are these instruments have a very good accuracy and precision and you are able to measure many light atomic weight elements, such as carbon, phosphorus and sulfur. And they're excellent for specific high volume types of analyses." Among the drawbacks, says Ross, "is that optical emission instruments are more time consuming to set up and more time consuming to maintain."

Rose says Spectra is moving in both directions. In terms of optical emission, there are two new products that use a CD chip identical to the one used in a video camera. "This means that you can get high flexibility and performance, and the price ratio is there," Rose says.

The higher end instruments are for the analyses of multiple metal matrices such as those with an iron, copper, nickel, or aluminum base. This is selling in the $35,000 to $55,000 range, depending on the number of features the customer wants.

The lower cost unites are in the $20,000 range, weigh only 21 pounds and can be battery operated. These are designed primarily for sorting specific alloy grades.

"We're also investigating X-ray units, and will soon bring some to market," Rose says, adding that, across the board, X-ray units are in the $20,000 to $50,000 range.On the Job Results

To turn to a couple of recyclers, Mark Lotzkar, general manager, Pacific Metals Ltd, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, says he says he uses a unit from Niton Corp., Bend, Ore. "We use this to readily identify titanium, nickel, and copper based products," Lotzkar says. "It's useful for bidding, so that we can make sure that what we are offered is what it's supposed to be, and we use it to test loads coming in, again to make sure it's what we ordered. It's the size of a carton of cigarettes, it's battery operated, and it works well."

The downside is that "some grades of metals, it's not capable of analyzing, and it's not very good with aluminum," Lotzkar says. "But we didn't buy it for those things. Some of the more expensive products can do everything, but we got just what we needed for our purposes. We also use chemicals to analyze materials, as well as common sense."

Lotzkar reports the unit costs about $125,000. "We also have an arrangement with them so they do the upgrades," he says.

Lois Young, recycling services, Skagit River Steel & Recycling, Burlington, Wash., reports she also uses a portable Niton. "It's a fair recent acquisition for us," she says. "We bought it to give us readings so we can upgrade our stainless steel products. We can tell what series the material is in so we can command a better price."

An upside to the product, Young says, is that it's upgradeable so it can be expanded to include more metals.

A downside, she reports, "is that it's a bit fragile and requires a lot of care. We would like it to be a little more rugged. Other than that it works very well."

What do recyclers ask for when they go shopping for a metal analyzer?

"What they really want to see is if the equipment will do the job, and grade and identify the scrap they are involved with," says Angstrom's Moffat.

"Once they find the unit that does the job, then what's important is the price. If five can do roughly the same job, then the bottom line is price," Moffat remarks.

"The first question is always price," says Metorex's Patterson. "Then comes the question of if it will perform in the market they are in."

Systems Alternatives' Martz has found the first questions a recycler asks are, "What are the elements the equipment will analyze, how accurate are the measurements, and the speed. Will it work and not slow down our operation?"

"How hard is it to operate is among the first questions, because recyclers don't want to have to hire a highly-skilled technician to run it," says Spectro's Rose. "They're also interested in knowing how fast it can go and how much it can accomplish on a particular shift, what sort of precision [it has], plus they need to have the confidence that it will meet their metal mix," he continues. "And price is always a major concern."

"What can it do, how much does it cost, and who can operate it? are the first questions I ask," says Lotzkar of Pacific Metals. "I'm also interested in knowing what kinds of environments it will work in; in the heat, or moisture, outdoors and in the dust? How long does the battery operate and how easy is it to bump it over?"

Skagit River's Young's main question was, "is it upgradeable?"

Since TN's Myers had the first word, let's also give her the last. "What recyclers ask for when shopping for metal analyzing equipment," she says, "are price, weight, size, speed."

The author is a freelance business and technical writer.