Equipment report

Buhler Sortex and NRT form partnership

Buhler Sortex, a member of The Buehler Group, London, and Nashville, Tennessee-based National Recovery Technologies (NRT) are entering a strategic commercial agreement to offer plastics recyclers what they call a complete solution for plastic bottle and flake sorting. The move comes, the companies say, as the demand for plastic sorting solutions continues to rise. The companies plan to combine their efforts in optical sorting technologies, engineering expertise and customer service networks.

A press release from the companies says global plastics production increased to 280 million tonnes in 2011, continuing the 9% growth pattern witnessed annually since 1950.

The partnership between Buhler Sortex and NRT marks a further milestone in their continuing expansion in the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) sorting segment across Europe and North America. The companies offer such technologies as In-Flight Sorting, PET Boost, Label Reduction Kit and Smart-Eject.

Charith Gunawardena, head of optical sorting at Buhler Sortex, says, “This landmark agreement signifies our confidence in the future growth of recycling. It also strengthens our industry references and reinforces our leading role in optical sorting while demonstrating our commitment to providing customers with a complete bottle and flake sorting solution.”

With a service network covering major recycling markets, the companies say plastics recyclers can depend on a comprehensive Buhler Sortex and NRT support network built on solid foundations of technology and service excellence. The network also will provide access to both companies’ capabilities, including system design, onsite management, installation and product training. Collaboration with members of the technology value chain is also expected to be part of the partnership.

Matthias Erdmannsdoerfer, president of NRT, says, “We’re excited to bring the industry’s first complete offering to market that doesn’t require a plastics recycler to compromise on bottle or flake sorting performance and provides high-quality, local support.”

Sennebogen expands German port and production facility

Sennebogen Maschinenfabrik GmbH of Germany is expanding the production, warehouse and shipping areas at its Plant II facility at the port of Straubing by 35,000 square metres (376,737 square feet). In addition, the company says it is adding a 6,700-square-metre (4,000-square-foot) production facility for the assembly and painting of large components and for finishing work and quality control.

With the investment, the company says it is preparing for future projects and expanding its capacity to produce large machines. Plant II, opened in 2008, is used primarily for the manufacture and testing of large machines and preparing them for worldwide shipping.

In order to accommodate the growing need for space and increased production capacity, the factory premises are being expanded in two construction phases.

Says Managing Director Erich Sennebogen, “As a family-owned company, we feel committed to long-term planning and to adjusting our production facilities to the market requirements of the future. This plant extension ensures optimized logistics, enhanced reliability and an even better working environment for our team.”

During the first phase, the company is adding a paved surface south of the current premises for the technical approval of telescopic cranes and rope excavators and for a new noise metering area, Sennebogen says. A new shipping area for machines and components also is part of the project.

Construction for the first phase has already begun to expand the existing site with the addition of a warehouse and shipping area. Sennebogen says the site will also feature a specially adapted 180-tonne Sennebogen 5500 crawler gantry crane from the Star Lifter series. With a working radius of more than 30 metres (98 feet) and a travel range of approximately 170 metres (558 feet), the Sennebogen crawler crane will be able to hoist and handle heavy components in an area of more than 10,000 square metres (6,000 square feet), the company says. Trucks will be able to directly pass under the gantry crane for safer, faster loading, according to the firm. In addition, the site will accommodate technical approval operations for rope excavators and telescopic cranes.

During the second construction phase, scheduled to begin in mid-2016, the company will add an assembly and paint shop for large machines, and additional space for finishing work and quality control.

The company says the expansion will lead to enhanced production flexibility and reduced lead times.

Duesmann & Hensel plasma arc technology fully online

Metals recovery technology supplier Tetronics International, based in the United Kingdom, has announced that its plasma arc technology, supplied to Duesmann & Hensel Recycling’s Frankfurt facility, has gone live. Duesmann & Hensel Recycling is headquartered in Aschaffenburg, Germany. The plasma arc technology is being used to recover platinum group metals (PGM) from catalytic converters.

Swindon, U.K.-based Tetronics says the Frankfurt plant has achieved Final Acceptance Test (FAT) status for the process, which concentrates PGMs for resale by a factor of 25 times. According to Tetronics, the technology makes PGMs accessible so they can re-enter the supply chain and be used in the manufacture of new products. Meanwhile, hazardous elements contained in the less valuable materials are treated, resulting in an inert, reusable building product that Tetronics refers to as Plasmarok.

An initial agreement to develop the plasma smelting furnace for Duesmann & Hensel Recycling in Karlstein was reached in 2013. The plant is fully commissioned and can process the catalytic converters from up to 1.85 million cars per year, Tetronics says.

The completed project represents further export success for Tetronics, the company adds. The company says it has around 13,700 tonnes of installed commercial PGM recycling capacity for converter core material per year, which equates to 13.7 million units.

“We are delighted that this plant is now fully operational and Tetronics’ plasma arc technology will be delivering environmental and cost benefits to support Duesmann & Hensel Recycling’s processes,” observes Graeme Rumbol, CEO of Tetronics International. “This project further demonstrates that Tetronics is regarded across the world as the market leader in the recovery of precious metals and we’re looking forward to continuing our strong growth path over the coming months.”

Rumbol says the company’s technology can be used to process a range of waste streams.

Recy Systems releases sixth version of enterprise resource planning software

Recy Systems AG, a division of Recy Systems LLC based in the United States, and a provider of software applications for the recycling industry, celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2015. The company says its enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is used by more than 620 customers in 43 countries in the recycling, waste management and metal trading industries.

The company also says that eight of the 20 largest recycling companies worldwide are using the system, which is available in 18 languages.

New from Recy Systems is version 6 of its Recy ERP system. The new software is free for customers that currently hold a support and maintenance contract with Recy. The company also reports that most customers will migrate to Recy’s version 6 over a four- to five-year time span. Customers will receive the newest version as well as all of the functionality that was programmed specially for them in previous versions, the company says.

The new version is based on Microsoft’s SQL database, .NET framework and Visual C# programming language and includes contracts, purchases and sales, retail, inventory management, production, logistics, financials and customer relations management (CRM) and an electronic archive, Recy says.

Recy Systems AG also focuses on developing applications that run on smartphones and tablets. These mobile solutions include mobile grading, container tracking, telematics and CRM as well as an app designed for electronics recycling companies.

Recy says that almost all functionality that is required outside the office will be provided by iRecy apps within the next two years.

The company is a long-standing gold member of Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) based in Brussels, as well as a member of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), Washington and other industry associations.