Machinex to Provide Equipment for UK RDF Plant

Swindon Commercial Services (SCS), a wholly owned company of the U.K.’s Swindon Borough Council, has chosen Machinex http://www.machinexrecycling.com/ to provide equipment for the company’s new waste facility in the United Kingdom. When fully operational the facility, located at Cheney Manor Industrial Estate, will treat 48,000 metric tons of municipal solid waste per year. The facility also will accept commercial and industrial waste. End product of the plant will be Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) and Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF).

Swindon says the fuel produced at its new facility will meet specified standards and sold through a separately procured fuel-use contract. Machinex is expected to have its custom-made sorting system completed by the third quarter of 2013.

According to Machinex, Jonathan Menard, the company’s director of projects, has developed facilities similar to the one being installed at SCS’ plant, which demonstrates the company’s expertise in equipment design.

"After a rigorous procurement process, SCS concluded that Machinex has the technical ability to deliver the kind of system we require. Machinex has perfectly identified our needs and resources by offering us a reasonable approach that respected the limitations of the building and our budget," says Sean Magee, SCS’ head of waste solutions.

Machinex’s system will segregate a variety of materials from municipal solid waste and construction and industrial material to obtain a final fraction that meets the standards to produce SRF and, depending on the market needs, RDF.

Material delivered to the plant will first enter a shredder. From there, the fines particles will be removed by a trommel. Ferrous and nonferrous metals will be sorted out using a range of magnets. A heavy-light separator will remove heavies, while a secondary shredder will guarantee the material complies with SRF/RDF standards of 30 millimeters or less. Because SRF standards requires between 15 -20 percent moisture content, the material will be dried in a rotating drum dryer to recover 70 percent of the initial air. The exhaust air from the system will be treated to remove contaminants before being discharged. Due to the plant’s flexible design a reversible conveyor will allow the operator to decide to send bulk material loose on a vehicle or send it to a baler and be wrapped in plastic film according to market demand.