MeWa Introduces System that Processes Electronic Scrap, Refrigeration Devices

The Germany-based company MeWa Recycling Maschinen und Anlagenbau GmbH has built a plant that can process both refrigeration devices and electrical scrap in St. Helens, England for the British company Viridor. The plant, built in one year, cost around 16 million Euros (US$22.9 million).

Viridor, one of the UK’s largest waste management companies, offers a nationwide collection service for WEEE materials which are processed at its treatment facilities. The plant is capable of simultaneously processing more than 100 refrigeration devices and seven to nine metric tons of electrical and electronic scrap.

This was once a refrigeration device: PUR powder, plastic, non-ferrous metals, iron.

On two separate lines, MeWa Querstromzerspaners open up the defunct cooling units, computers, vacuum cleaners, hi-fi systems and other electronic waste. "The motives for the total investment of 16 million euro lay in the quality of the output. Only fractions that have been perfectly sorted by material type can be sold at good prices these days," said Piet Gilbos, MeWa Area sales manager.

How efficiently the MeWa QZ works is something that Viridor has been aware of at least since its merger with the largest electrical scrap processor in Scotland. Viridor took over the MeWa customer Shore two years ago and, in doing so, also acquired a highly economical disposal plant that reliably processes 500,000 refrigeration devices per year.

In the new plant, MeWa has created two complete turnkey lines. The refrigeration devices are processed in the front area of the hall. The refrigerants and the CFCs and the oil they contain are extracted. In the subsequent step, the MeWa Querstromzerspaner QZ 2500 opens up the devices in a single operation and exposes the plastics and metals. Automatic sorting technology then separates the iron, aluminum and copper fractions, stainless steel, plastics as well as the PUR foam. The CFCs and pentanes the insulating foam still contains are separated in a matrix degasifying process and liquefied using cryogenic condensation. At the end of the process, virtually one hundred percent of the adhesions of environmentally harmful gases are removed from the fractions.

MeWa has implemented a new concept in the electrical scrap line that works separately. The mixture of automatic sorting and manual pollutant extraction ensures the highest standards in accordance with the WEEE Directive of the European Union are met. First of all, components containing pollutants are removed from the devices. Then the MeWa Querstromzerspaner gently opens up the electrical appliances with its chain principle. The parts containing recyclable materials leave the machine in large pieces, meaning they are then perfectly ready for automatic sorting.

Another view of the system.

Especially the components containing recyclable materials, such as processor boards and metals, can be separated using special units in the subsequent course of the process. The advantage of the patented MeWa Querstromzerspaner is particularly clear to see when it comes to processor boards. Whereby cutting tools produce many small individual parts or time-consuming pre-dismantling is required, the QZ patent with its flexible acceleration tools delivers results with complete parts. The processor boards can be resold to specialized companies as a Class 1 fraction, where the precious metals are then stripped and recovered.

The different plastic fractions are separated when they are made available at the end of the process. The automatic process in the new plant is followed by a manual sorting during which the remaining parts containing pollutants, such as batteries and capacitors, and the recoverable composites, such as electric motors, are filtered out of the material flow.

The new combined plant also maximizes space. Despite limited hall space, the planners have fitted both lines under a single roof. The result is a compact configuration which still provides the required space for the logistics, and works highly efficiently with the short distances: a new standard in WEEE processing.