SGM touts fines recovery system

Separation technology and equipment firm SGM Magnetics, based in Italy with a U.S. office in Bradenton, Florida, is marketing a Micro Fines Plant (MFP) that recovers metal “fines and extra fines” from the auto shredder residue (ASR) stream.

SGM Managing Director Didier Haegelsteen says the MFP features a proprietary process developed “after years of hands-on operating experience in processing ASR fines (mainly tailings).” The MFP was researched and designed in collaboration with inventor Thomas Valerio of TAV Holdings Inc., Atlanta.

“Recovering metals from ASR yields money but it also costs money in terms of capital investment and operating expenses,” says Haegelsteen. “This is why every shredder operator, regardless the size of his operation and his wallet, is always looking for the ‘the lowest hanging fruit.’ Historically, the lowest hanging metals have always been large zorba, zurick and wire, followed by the midsized fractions, then passing to the fines (approximately three-quarters-inch-minus) and ending with the extra fines metals (approximately one-quarter-inch-minus).”

Several years ago, shredder operators were not yet convinced of the practicality of looking for metals below three-quarters-inch, says Haegelsteen, although now they are. “Today, very few operators see the convenience of looking for metals in their minus one-quarter-inch ASR. The concerns heard are that there are not enough metals in the fines, the metals are difficult to sell and the smaller the ASR you process, the lower the tons per hour you can do and the more maintenance required to your residue plant,” he comments.

SGM says the MFP is helping to change that long-standing belief.

Based on August 2014 prices for metals, the MFP typically results in recovering an additional $85 to $120 of metal value per ton of ASR fines (three-quarters-inch-minus) processed with metals recovered less than 1 millimeter (0.04 inches) in size, according to SGM.

“The benefit to consider is not only the value of the metals recovered, but also the limited amount of operators needed to run and maintain the MFP,” says Haegelsteen. “The reduced footprint of the plant (less than 20,000 square feet for a 20-to 25-tons-per-hour capacity) makes ASR fine metals that typically represent approximately 35 percent in weight of the total ASR to become the lowest hanging fruit.”

According to Haegelsteen, the market for these fine metals (mainly copper and brass) is no longer only China but now includes the U.S., Europe and refineries in other parts of Asia, which helps increase the operator’s end market options.

SGM says the MFP can either be directly sold to customers, including several weeks of training of the customers' operating staff, or can be obtained on a partnership basis where SGM operates the MFP for a given time.

The MFP has been in place throughout much of 2014 at the PSC Metals, yard in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to process the three-quarters-inch-minus ASR fines produced by several PSC shredders. PSC and SGM also have reached agreement to build a residue plant in Ohio that will process three-quarters-inch-plus ASR residue with SGM eddy currents, metal sensors and air gravity separators.

“Combining an MFP with a traditional residue plant that only processes ASR residue over three-quarters-inch represents a true revolutionary approach to the ASR industry,” says Haegelsteen. “The MFP optimizes metal recovery opportunities in fines and extra fines in ASR that are often underused. In addition, it also allows the operator’s existing (or new) residue plant to optimize performance by taking the fines out. This will achieve more tons per hour with less operators, less maintenance required and more up-time.”

Haegelsteen says the MFP represents the latest in a series of technological innovations from SGM. “SGM has a long tradition of pioneering, beginning with the introduction of the first high frequency eddy current separators for fines ASR over 15 years ago,” he remarks. “This was then followed by many others, such as the introduction of dynamic ferrous separators, the use of close loop air classifiers before metal sensor separators and up to the latest technology breakthrough with the use of dynamic sensors for its metal sensor separators. Unlike traditional metal sensor separators, the smaller the piece of metal, the easier the detection, which makes all the difference when recovering difficult pieces like small bare copper wire.”