OmniSource Corp., Ft. Wayne, IN and Meretec Corp., East Chicago, Ind., have entered into an exclusive agreement to commercialize Meretec’s de-zincing technology throughout the United States. Meretec holds an international patent for technology that removes and reclaims zinc from galvanized and zinc-coated ferrous scrap.
Reclaimed zinc is processed into a high-purity zinc powder, suitable for a number of specialty applications as well as typical commodity grade consumption. The process also returns a premium-grade shredded ferrous product, characterized by low-residual chemistries, improved density and higher yields than coated scrap, according to Meretec.
OmniSource will be responsible for sourcing raw materials and marketing the finished scrap products while Meretec will operate the patented processing facility in East Chicago and provide technical support. The companies will work jointly to develop on-site management programs that could include new processing plants for specific industrial generators, steel mills and iron foundries, according to a news release from OmniSource.
“We believe there is great potential for the application of the Meretec technology in metals recycling,” says Danny Rifkin, President of OmniSource. “The Meretec partnership aligns OmniSource with a visionary company that operates with a global perspective. We believe that the future will require new and innovative methods to recycle metals, and OmniSource intends to be at the forefront of these efforts,” he adds.
Martin Young, Chairman of Meretec, remarks, “Meretec is convinced that combining our technology with OmniSource’s material sourcing and market expertise will help bring this revolutionary process to the U.S. metals recycling market in the most efficient way possible.”
Meretec is a subsidiary of Metals Investment Trust Ltd., a U.K.-based holding company that is currently negotiating licenses for its de-zincing process worldwide. Its first formal licensing agreement with Southern Rocycling in Australia was finalized in May of 2005, with agreements in Asia and Europe pending.
The Meretec plant in East Chicago was established in 2002 and originally designed and equipped to handle up to 115,000 metric tons of scrap per year. At that time, Meretec managers estimated that the average ton of galvanized scrap should yield about 40 pounds of zinc flake product for outbound shipment.
OmniSource is one of North America’s largest processors and distributors of scrap and secondary metals. The company handles more than 6 million tons of ferrous scrap and 700 million pounds of nonferrous metals annually, with 32 facilities and sales offices located throughout the eastern United States and Canada.