
The construction industry uses a significant amount of the metal produced around the world each year, whether in the form of steel beams and plates, aluminum extrusions, copper wiring or red metal plumbing pipes and fixtures.
Likewise, when buildings are demolished, the metal within serves as a significant scrap metal source that creates business relationships between demolition contractors and scrap recyclers so they each can profit from the harvested scrap.
When a demolition project is large enough, those involved may need to consider bringing a baler to the jobsite. In many other cases, scrap facility managers who know demolition projects represent a major source of material will equip that yard properly to handle steel beams and other material flowing from the demolition process.
Portable prospects
Bringing a portable baler to a demolition site involves several expenses, so the decision to do so is ordinarily made only after determining the return on investment (ROI) will be worthwhile, according to equipment suppliers.
Factors influencing the decision include the size and construction style of the building and how near or far it is from the yard of the intended scrap buyer. “The size and type of the building will determine the amount of recyclable material available, and the contractor must make the call on the impact of loose material freight versus baling or shearing onsite,” says Bob Pfeffer, a United States-based product manager for global equipment supplier Metso.
Large industrial buildings or complexes in remote locations thus can be candidates. “Examples are factories, mills, large building complexes and energy plants,” says Steve Weinberg, national sales and marketing director for Lefort America, which distributes Belgium-made equipment to the U.S. market. Referring to a large power plant demolition job in Florida in the U.S., Weinberg comments, “Due to the size and type of the job, a tremendous amount of steel scrap was generated, thus justifying the shearing and baling of material for larger returns and greater recovery revenue for every load sent.”
A portable machine that can be moved around the jobsite also offers benefits, says Weinberg, in that “you can bring the shear\baler unit to the material, instead of moving the material to the machine, which many times cannot happen in difficult terrain.”
Another aspect of the decision is whether to purchase a piece of processing equipment, or look for a way to lease or rent one, or to search for a specialty subcontracting firm that specializes in onsite scrap processing.
Curt Spry of United States-based C&C Machining (a successor company of the Al-jon brand) says there are fewer such specialty onsite baling companies now compared to about a decade ago, but searching for one can sometimes be the right approach. “There are some advantages to a commercial baler in that you don’t have to purchase a piece of equipment that you may use just for one job,” he comments. “Commercial balers come in with an experienced operator and can usually complete the job very quickly,” adds Spry.
If a demolition contracting firm determines its ongoing flow of work makes it worthwhile to purchase a baler or shear/baler, Pfeffer recommends such a firm start by talking to “a reputable equipment manufacturer that can provide capital costs as well as operating costs.” Adds Pfeffer, “A scrap processor also can assist in explaining any premiums [paid] for prepared scrap as compared to unprepared scrap.”
Cutting things down to size
Often with demolition scrap, if the processing machinery won’t come to the jobsite, the contractor has to determine which nearby scrap facility is the right one to ship and sell its scrap to during the project.
In cases where a large industrial or commercial building is the takedown target, a recycler equipped with stationary shearing equipment designed to chew through steel beams may be the right one.
Jeff Ham of United States-based Harris, says “a guillotine shear in the 1,000-ton range is a vital piece of equipment in a scrap yard,” and is particularly well suited for steel beams that comprise part of the plate and structural grade of ferrous scrap.
“This machine will process scrap at a much lower cost per ton than processing it through a shredder,” states Ham. While cutting torches also can be used to cut steel beams into smaller sections, “A shear can take [part of the] burden off of torch crews,” says Ham.
While large metal shredding plants get much of the attention in the scrap processing sector, Ham says such shears provide advantages to the operator—in some aspects in direct contrast to circumstances caused by shredders. “A shear is not a difficult machine to maintain,” he states. “The quality and condition of the knife blades as well as the adjustment of them to maintain the proper knife gap is the primary maintenance concern on a shear. Wear liners and normal hydraulics maintenance are also a consideration.”
Not all shearing has to take place offsite, however. Weinberg comments that “the portable type of attachable shears are available [from rental houses].”
Remarks Pfeffer, “If large steel beams and structures are included, the contractor may have to size this material with a mobile shear mounted on a material hander to be able to ship it.”
Hydraulic shear attachments can help shorten the length of steel beams onsite, making them easier to place into containers for offsite shipment. They will, however, require the use of a material handler (which might otherwise be engaged in “chewing” into the structure) and its full-time operator.
Keep it clean
When scrap processors sell material to consuming melt shops, there is a well-defined and long-lasting set of specifications and understandings pointing to the importance of the material being clean and usable.
Veteran scrap recyclers will state that quality challenges can begin at the point of generation, and this can certainly be true at demolition sites.
Processing equipment suppliers say their customers ask them about several considerations when it comes protecting the quality of scrap materials prepared on a demolition site. “As far as scrap produced in a demo process, the cleaner the better for being able to market the material for the highest dollar return,” says Pfeffer.
Beyond cleanliness, prohibited materials need to be identified and either removed from the scrap stream or acknowledge as the source of a downgrade. “A typical problem is prohibited material, especially in old buildings,” says Pfeffer. “As an example, if you have sheets of steel siding or roofing with old sprayed-on coatings or insulation, these would not be as valuable as clean sheet material.”
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Lefort America’s Weinberg points to other potential problems. “Depending on the type of building being demolished, there could be radiation that must be remediated; another example would be asbestos.”
Before metal gets to the melt shop, demo contractors may also need to check into the limitations of the equipment used by the scrap processor to whom they are selling material. According to Spry, if demolition contractors are using onsite equipment to prepare shredder logs, “They should check with the local shredder to find out what contaminants they will not accept.”
Adds Spry, if contractors “feel they have a clean enough product onsite to justify going direct to the steel mill, they should make the same inquiry to the steel mill.”
Equipped and Ready
The ongoing importance of the link between demolition projects and the scrap industry has been long-lasting and continues to gain the attention of equipment suppliers. Metso says its new N-Series of transportable shear/baler/loggers and shears have been designed for metal recycling companies that “operate on many sites or offer scrap processing as a service.” Such companies, according to Metso, find that “moving production equipment faster to remote locations [can] make all the difference.”
Says Pfeffer of the N-Series, “Being compact and movable, they are especially ideal for small-to-mid-size processors and metal processing in temporary locations.”
In addition to Metso, Harris, Lefort and C&C, numerous other manufacturers are creating or upgrading their processing machinery to address this market sector.
California-based Sierra International Machinery has enjoyed significant North American market share in the sector for several decades. The company’s Italian-made RB5000 portable baler/logger can process up to 22 tons per hour of “logged” scrap material. The company indicates its SLK shear/baler/logger line has been designed to offer “large shear production at a small price.”
Demolition contractors considering investing in processing equipment themselves can receive good advice by talking openly with their allies in the scrap sector, says Spry of C&C. “I would suggest going to see a baler in operation at either an existing demo site or a nearby scrap yard that is processing material similar to what you would have at the demo site,” he comments.
To whatever extent they choose to cooperate on a given project, in the bigger picture, demolition contractors and scrap processors are both likely to benefit as manufacturers strive to compete to serve this critical sector.
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