Equipment Report

Tetronics Celebrates Win at National Recycling Awards
Tetronics Ltd., a U.K.-based supplier of direct current (DC) plasma waste recovery plants for treating hazardous waste and metal recovery, has won the National Recycling Awards 2012 under the category Electrical and Electronic Equipment Recycler of the Year. The awards, hosted by Materials Recycling Weekly, recognize excellence in all parts of the waste hierarchy.

Tetronics won the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Recycler of the Year category in recognition for the development of their patented plasma treatment of electrical wastes. The UN Environment Programme estimates the total global waste generated from electronics at around 50 million tonnes per year.

In receiving the award, Stephen Davies, CEO for Tetronics, said, “We are delighted to be recognised by the National Recycling Awards, which rewards innovation and excellence in recycling. We are pleased that the compelling benefits of our plasma solution for electrical waste processing clearly stands out — with its ability to generate the highest levels of precious metal recovery from e-waste, while also destroying any hazardous organic material that may be present. Our technology is one of the tools allowing sustainable urban mining to become a reality.”

Polish Recycler Polcopper Chooses Electric Sennebogen Handlers
Family-owned recycling company Polcopper, founded in 1990, has developed from a small scrap yard to one of Poland’s largest scrap metal recyclers.

Polcopper’s general manager Piotr Rusiecki has been running the operation since 2000. The facility handles around 500,000 tonnes of scrap each year with 300 employees.

The company recently began operating two new Sennebogen 818 R electric material handling machines at its headquarters in Smigiel, where the handlers are used to continuously supply two baling presses.

Low running costs, minimal background noise and high reliability are key advantages cited by Polcopper in choosing the electric handlers over conventional drive versions.

“With the new Sennebogen machines we have found the optimal solution for our processes,” says Rusiecki. “The electric drive in particular impressed us with low running costs and optimal environmental sustainability.”

Equipped with an 11-metre long boom and the elevating Multicab comfort cab, Sennebogen says the 818 is ideally suited to the work. The machine reaches over 100 cycles per hour when handling metals of all types and shapes. With the stable wide-track crawler chassis, the 818 is designed to stand firm and also can be turned around and moved easily as required. According to Sennebogen, the hydraulically elevating cab provides an unrestricted view into the press from above.

Rusiecki says the 818’s environmentally friendly properties may increase in importance in light of rising energy prices. The machines are in operation 24 hours a day with no refuelling break, thanks to the electric drive, Sennebogen says. Material is gathered constantly from the surrounding smaller scrap yards, sorted and then loaded onto vehicles. The easy operation and high power reserves make the machine a reliable partner in everyday use, the company notes.

Servicing of the handlers is being provided by Sennebogen’s Polish sales and service partner Bax Baumaschinen.

“We decided together that the Sennebogen 818 was the optimal machine for our needs,” says Rusiecki.

Adelmann Offers Refrigerator Recycling Plants
Adelmann Umwelt GmbH, based in Karlstadt, Germany, says it has built some 60 refrigerator recycling plants that are now in operation worldwide.

The company says the plants are designed, assembled and commissioned with respect to both technical features and characteristics in process engineering. The plants can be operated according to customer needs.

The recycling system consists of a shredder; a separation unit for polyurethane foam, iron, synthetic material and aluminium/copper; a pelleting press and an exhaust air decontamination system.

Before the refrigerators are disassembled, the loose inner parts are removed. The operation is followed by the disposal of the oil-CFC/Iso-butane-mixture with the coolant suction system.

After removing the compressor, the refrigerator is moved to Adelmann’s RPWW recycling system. The two-shaft pre-shredder cuts each refrigerator into strips measuring about 50 mm wide. The refrigerators are broken into smaller 20- to 30-mm pieces by Adelmann’s post-shredder.

Recyclable materials are separated subsequently. One system can recycle up to 60 refrigerators per hour, the company says.

Sicon Installs Scrap Fragmentizer at Albanian Steel Mill
A scrap fragmentizer has been installed at Kurum Steel’s steel mini-mill, Kombinati Metalurgijk, in Elbasan, Albania, to improve the melt shop’s performance. Kurum Steel is based in Albania and produces a range of steel long products. Its mini mill in Elbasan has a capacity of 50,000 tonnes per month, and Sicon, a supplier of processing solutions for the scrap industry, has installed the scrap fragmentizer within a new scrap yard at Kurum’s Elbasan location.

Kurum identified the positive impact of cleaning the incoming scrap and using shredded scrap for its production. Besides the reduction of tap-to-tap times and energy consumption, the metallurgical yield has improved. According to Kurum, the local available scrap, as well as the imported materials, are often dirty and need reprocessing to avoid the feeding of unwanted metallurgical ingredients to the furnace.

Sicon, Hamburg, Germany, has been working with Kurum for several years on various projects. Sicon created the basic design of the new scrap yard, including the logistic planning. Implementation was carried out by local companies. Sicon also identified a suitable second-hand machine in Germany, since Kurum was looking for a fast project execution.

The recently installed plant has been running for several months.