MBA Polymers Inc. : Plastics manufacture from WEEE and ELV shredder residue
Over 14 years MBA Polymers, Inc. has developed a unique process to recycle plastics from co-mingled plastic waste. It now has a processing capacity of some 80,000 tonnes per year of highly-mixed, plastic-rich streams and continues to grow. This growth will largely be generated by the current growth of the volume of WEEE recycled in Europe and the addition of ELV plastics as source material for this recycling process.
After recycling the recovered plastics can be used in new durable goods, such as electronics and automotive applications, as they have performance characteristics comparable to virgin.
MBA Polymers Inc.’s products are replacing virgin resin plastics in a multitude of consumer applications bringing economic, social and environmental benefits. Life cycle and eco-profile analysis demonstrates that this recycling process consumes only a fraction of the energy and natural resources that other processes do, and does not use harmful chemicals or chemical processes. This process also avoids greenhouse gas emissions, and for every tonne of plastic produced one to three tonnes of CO2 are conserved.
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Recovery and re-incorporation of plastic waste into new products is logical. Much like the other commodity streams such as metal, paper and plastic water bottles that are recycled and used in new products today, large-scale recovery of plastics from shredder residue, once thought to be impossible due to its complexity, is now in existence and a burgeoning industry of the future.
The recovered plastics comply with RoHS, REACH and other customer-specific environmental and performance requirements enabling consumers and manufacturers alike to get what they want – post-consumer plastic content.
MBA Polymers has a total of three production sites located in China, the US and Europe and will be adding a fourth production site in 2009. Contact details: Call +43 7476 77488 18, visit www.mba-polymers.at or e-mail office@mba-polymers.a
New installations for Luter
The expansion of Luter’s activity in central and eastern Europe has progressed with the signing of contracts for the installation of three new lines for the treatment of tyres in Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland. Luter is an expert in tyre recycling, with new solutions that increase the quality of final products and reduce the amount of wasted material.
An example of this will be the new unit installed in the Czech Republic where all material produced from tyres can be sold (include the fibre). Luter is constantly developing new technology and new processes for tyre treatment by working with its customers.
One such development is a new prototype machine that will separate rubber dust completely from the textile. Another new machine for the treatment of fork lift tyres is on its way, too.
As well as tyres, Luter is focused on other types of recycling. The beginning of 2009 will see a new RDF-producing plant in the Czech Republic, and with the co-operation of sister company LDV Plast a new system for the recycling of polycarbonate plastics will be installed.
In terms of metal scrap Luter has recently formed an alliance with a producer of shredding equipment and will introduce this equipment to the UK and middle-eastern Europe.
Contact details: Call +420 585 204812 or e-mail info@lutercz.com
M&J: Shredding specialists
Danish company M&J Industries continues to go from strength to strength in the field of industrial shredding technology. M&J know-how has had considerable long-term influence on technical developments in this specialist field, where completely reliable throughputs are essential for efficiency and profitability.
Backed by more than 150 years of heavy engineering experience, M&J is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of shredding equipment that effectively and reliably reduces the size of waste materials of all kinds. M&J supplies shredder solutions for companies that work with recycling, landfills, incineration, hazardous waste, waste-to-energy conversion and composting, as well as industrial processes such as cement production and chemical waste processing.
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The company supplies a comprehensive range of both static and mobile shredders in both single-shaft and double-shaft configurations, providing virtually any required shredding capacity. All M&J products share key distinctive features, including the patented open cutting table and aggressive knife designs, as well an exceptionally robust construction.
The unique design of M&J shredders means they are easy to operate, and ensures low maintenance. This results in minimum processing stoppages and maximum uptime. There are no bolts, bearings or adjustable parts in the cutting area, which eliminates traditional cleaning and service. Automatic lubrication systems pave the way to effective preventive maintenance schedules, and the hydrostatic drive provides the ideal combination of revolutions and torque.
All M&J shredders shred efficiently in both directions and are easy to link up to industry-standard electronic signal exchange systems. Shredder operation is monitored and controlled by a PLC equipped with software that automatically adjusts operating parameters to deal with specific types of waste as well as changes in its composition. These technical advantages help ensure rapid running-in, so that new equipment reaches peak efficiency almost immediately after installation.
M&J works closely with potential customers to assess the most cost-effective ways of meeting any particular waste reduction and recycling requirement. It is also renowned for its post-installation follow-up services, available from a network of M&J-trained service experts throughout the world.
M&J solutions are available with shredding capacities of 4–200 tonnes per hour. It is currently operating in virtually all industries and in more than 25 countries on five continents.
Contact details: Call +45 7626 6400 or e-mail mj@mj.dk
Tana Shark slow speed shredders
Finnish company Tana Oy, one of the leading manufacturers of landfill compactors, enjoys continued success with its range of mobile shredders. In particular with its latest model the Tana Shark 220 D which was launched at the 2008 IFAT show in Munich.
A key feature of the TANA Shark is its versatility. It is able to treat most recoverable, recyclable and reusable materials and it has proven itself in the shredding of abrasive, long and batten materials such as tyres, long plastic films and big sacks. The machine's adjustable rotor screen with different mesh sizes and adjustable counter-knives gives it versatility.
The state-of-the art control system with new setup options, Tana TCS, make the unit more user-friendly and cost-efficient. The unit comes pre-programmed with six different programmes suitable for different materials and purposes. The programme parameters can be fine-tuned according to the customer requirements upon the start-up and commissioning of the machine.
An optional GPRS-based Remote Management System (RMS) is available for the TANA Shark 220 D, as well as TANA Gx landfill compactors. Machines mounted with a transmitter can be connected to a vehicle control system via a CAN bus or other communications port and a GSM antenna. This will enable a remote connection to machines to be opened wherever Internet access is available. This new system enables Tana to provide accurate and up-to-date customer support, simplifying trouble-shooting, and ensuring more machine uptime.
Future developments at Tana include the production of operational reports from the system, and electrically -driven shredders.
For more information on the company and products please visit www.tana.fi
MeWa processing plants on the advance in Europe
German MeWa Recycling Maschinen und Anlagenbau GmbH has recently constructed a recycling plant for solid recovered fuels in Belgium. The British Shanks Group commenced operation of the plant near Ghent this summer. Up to 35 tonnes of mixed building refuses as well as domestic and industrial waste material will be processed there every hour.
With prices for the fossil energy sources of oil, gas and coal currently rising, solid recovered fuels will become more significant as an alternative source of energy – and they will do so throughout Europe. The result would be price competition for refuse products.
The material supplied to the new Shanks Group refuse plants in Belgium comprises domestic and industrial refuse as well as packaging, sheeting, cartons and building materials from the construction industry. These materials are difficult to break down and are hence of just the right dimension for MeWa machinery.
Materials such as metal, wood and paper are initially separated from the non-organic part of the waste material. This material can then be immediately resold. What remains are high-calorific materials, mainly packaging material made from plastic, sheeting and also mattresses and carpeting materials.
‘The less high-calorie refuse processed, the more valuable the materials for use in kilns in operation in the cement industry are,’ says MeWa managing director Ulrich Hink. The advantage is that these homogenously-processed substitute fuels can then be fired direct into current industrial gas, oil or coal furnaces.
The main purchaser of substitute fuels from the new waste disposal plant in Ghent will be the Belgian cement industry. With the target grain size at less than 20mm, the new processing plant operates three large MeWa UNI-CUT® Series granulators with a working width of two metres. This enables a high throughput volume of 35 tonnes in single-shift operation.
In addition to preliminary crushing and the granulators, German plant engineering company MeWa designed and produced the complete disposal plant including vibration screens, air separation systems, metal cutters and materials handling system through to the final finishing stage. Contact details: Harald Pandl. Call +49 7056 925 191 or e-mail Harald.pandl@mewa-recycling.de.
Lindner-Recyclingtech’s alternative fuel processing systems and Heavy Fraction Separator HFS 1200
Lindner-Recyclingtech deals with the conception, development, assembling and worldwide distribution of shredding and processing technology for the production of refuse derived fuel (RDF). Its wide product range consists of pre-shredders, universal shredders, secondary shredders, heavy fraction separators as well as material handling- and separation technology. Large-scale energy users like the cement and steel industry and power generators often demand very stringent specifications for refuse derived fuels (RDF) manufactured from the commercial and industrial waste streams, with particle size requirements of 20mm. For this purpose a multi-level shredding process is required. The main criterion for the system is the effective pre-shredding of the input material to a defined granulate-size which is a precondition for a problem free separation of large foreign parts.
The separation of this heavy fraction using the Heavy Fraction Separator HFS 1200 minimizes wear costs, optimizes product quality, increases availability and makes for economic processing. With the Heavy Fraction Separator HFS 1200 Lindner-Recyclingtech has developed a modern and powerful unit with low energy requirements. For the processing of domestic, commercial and industrial waste investment intensive high performance shredders are used, which process waste in fractions for economic separation and/or incineration. This processing however can be affected considerably by large foreign parts in unknown size, amount and condition. Large foreign parts can cause operation standstills and often cause damages on the shredders. The Heavy Fraction Separator HFS 1200 has been developed for the protection of the shredders against those large foreign parts. It separates them from the waste and feeds them to separate processing cutting down repair costs and company standstills. The Heavy Fraction Separator HFS 1200 stands out because of this feature. Other benefits are its small overall size, design and simple operation. Due to its compact size the Heavy Fraction Separator HFS 1200 can easily be integrated as an inline component between the pre-shredder and secondary shredder. Changing an existing set-up of an existing processing system to the Heavy Fraction Separator HFS 1200 is relatively easy.
Contact details: Call Michaela Ulbing on +43 4762 2742-18 or e-mail michaela.ubling@l-rt.com or visit www.l-rt.com
Latest technology in metal sorting and recovery
Introducing Exsors® new metal sorter EX-900 with EMCAM technology. The EMCAM sensor detects all conductive materials independently of the surface quality, coating, humidity, temperature or surface corrosion of the material to be sorted.
The fully-automated sorter has a high throughput of up to 40 t/h. The EX-900 separates non-iron metals, ferrous metals and stainless steel in a so far unknown velocity and precision. Stainless steel is segregated in a purity of over 90% giving an impressive value to the output.
Pure metal fractions such as ferrous/non ferrous metals, stainless steel/non ferrous metals, non ferrous composite and mixed fractions, residual fractions from waste metal processing, and mixed and composite aluminium waste materials can be processed. As well as this mixed metal fractions such as incineration and metallurgical bottom ashes, tailings from mining, light and heavy metal shredder fractions, mixed construction and demolition waste, shredded wood, packaging waste, cleaning/wiping residues and mixed WEEE fractions can be processed.
Contamination of treated bottom ashes is massively reduced. As a result, bottom ashes can directly be used as alternative construction materials as they are completely freed of lumpy metal (>2mm) and have suitable grading.
The special feature on the EXSOR sorting technique is the application of the 'planar magnetic induction tomography' (PMIT) with an integrated real-time calculator. The high speed sensor technique that registers, respectively calculates the distinct metal typical electromagnetic characteristics for its material identification and sorting criterion. This PMIT principle of the new sensors closes the resolution gap of conventional metal sensors with a resolution of 25 to 50mm and their insufficient lateral sensitivity. Small, metal containing grains as well as foil or wire type metal particles in slags can be presented in focused control and real-time without the auxiliary use of optical aids. Resolution of 6mm at right angle to the conveyor system are no problem for a PMITsystem, scanning times of 0.5 msec is standard. The PMIT sensor with integrated sorting calculator was registered as Trade mark Electromagnetic Camera (EMCAM).
Geodur is the exclusive distribution partner of EXSOR and offers complete solutions for complex treatment tasks in metal sorting and recovery.
To contact call +41 41 760 25 32, e-mail info@geodur.ch or visit www.geodur.ch
RTT: Sorting technology from Germany
RTT Systemtechnik GmbH was founded in 1990 after the German Unification and is located in Zittau near the Polish boarder. There are 35 employees in its headquarters in Zittau. RTT is an equipment manufacturing company providing sorting solutions to the waste and recycling industry.
RTT provide also the European automotive industry with customized solutions in the field of special machinery and equipment. In 1995, RTT introduced the first UniSort® a Sorting Modul for plastic bottles and other recycable materials. Right from the start, it invested substantial resources in developing sorting technology for its customers.
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A highly selective NIR UniSort® Sensor enabled RTT to make analytic measurements to detect recycable materials in 2 x 128 wavelengths per measurepoint. The standard NIR Technology is generally a maximum of 10 or 12 wavelengths. At the IFAT 2008 show in Munich the new additional module for all UniSort® multiplex devices was presented to the public for the first time. RTT Systemtechnik GmbH can now offer another material identification solution to its customers.
The equipment contains a NIR sensor, which is flexible connected with the mainframe, but also operates with separate software and comprehensive database access.
The sensor can be positioned freely within the mainframe. It also can be placed upright and can be used for objects starting from 10 mm up to very large fractions. The protective cap of the optics allows automatic calibration, so that error-free measurements can be realized at any time.This modified laboratory instrument means you can determine unknown materials, react flexibly to new requirements and control sorting results independently.
Contact details: e-mail info@unisort.com
Titech: New automated sorting innovations
Titech Automated Sorting Systems has become a market leader in the recovery of recyclable materials from household and commercial waste streams, with more than 1700 units already in use worldwide.
Capable of identifying materials by material type, colour, atomic density and shape, Titech’s reputation for delivering high levels of accuracy and purity is based on patented optics and tailor-made sensors - a technological combination that attains the highest signal to noise ratio in the market. This delivers a continuous stream of stable and reliable material information and improves performance. As a result, Titech customers enjoy high levels of materials purity combined with high and accurate throughput – resulting in a high value end product.
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As part of its ongoing growth strategy, Titech invests heavily in organic growth backed by ongoing research and development, and through acquisition. For example, Titech incorporated German manufacturer CommodaS into its portfolio in late 2006. This has increased the range of materials that its systems are capable of sorting. In addition to paper, plastics and glass, the company can now offer advanced technology for the recognition and sorting of materials such as metals, flame retardants in plastics, plastic and glass flakes.
During 2008, customers will be introduced to two new Titech automated sorting systems that offer exciting possibilities to recover material previously beyond the scope of sensor-based sorting. Both systems offer unparalleled accuracy that enables even the smallest fractions to be recognised and sorted accordingly and have applications in polymer, WEEE and metals recycling.
The Finder® is the next generation of metals sorting systems from Titech. It features SUPPIXX® technology, the intelligent interpretation of data from state-of-the-art sensors, which enables the system to define the position of very small pieces of metal very precisely. The system is so accurate it can pinpoint and sort objects as small as 2mm. This in turn guarantees the recovery of metal from fractions containing very small particles and allows the recycling of a material which would have otherwise gone to landfill.
The new PolySort® Flake has been specifically developed to sort flaked polymers down to 4mm particles. This unique system combines NIR (near infrared) with VIS (ultraviolet) sensor technology allowing the PolySort® Flake to sort by both material type and colour. TiTech has also developed a revolutionary Valve Block for this application with an ultra fine nozzle and valve pitch that is especially configured for sorting plastic flakes. Capable of ejecting up to 8,000 particles per second, the new PolySort® Flake achieves efficient contamination removal and delivers up to four tonnes per hour of high purity material.
Contact details: Call +49 4103 1888 0 or visit www.titech.com
Toratec GmbH: Reliable sorting equipment
Toratec is a young and fast-growing company with a team that combines many years’ experience of designing and building reliable sorting equipment.
Being active in the bulk processing and sorting businesses for more than 15 years, Toratec aims at providing better and more economic recycling solutions to meet all their big and smaller customers growing sorting requirements. A valuable international network of business partners and associates to serve their customers has been established.
For customers requiring more than pure sorting technologies, Toratec Recycling Solutions also delivers mobile and semi-mobile installations as well as complete turnkey plants and customized sorting solutions. High performance helps to ensure the most efficient and cost-effective approach in all systems that are proposed.
The machine production facilities have been established in Barcelona, Spain in close cooperation with local and international suppliers. Customer material is tested in the companies test facility for sorting evaluations and consulting.
After the company's foundation in 2005, it has successfully developed and introduced an impressive series of modern sorting solutions. Their original EcoTowerSort® has raised international attention as this invention can effect high-capacity and high-quality sorting of all metals via the so-called Stack-X-Technology® approach.
This world-wide unique system allows Toratec to stack various sorting machines above each other while having the possibility to combine a variety of sensor technologies for best sorting results. Sensors to be combined can be i.e. Metal Sensors, Induction Sensors, NIR, X-Ray fluorescence technologies, and others. This saves the customers considerable investment costs and reduces the space requirements. At the same time, the capacity / quality relation is optimized giving the customer the maximum return. The company has built already several double and triple deckers in different machine widths and has been experiencing serious and growing interest for their EcoTowerSort® Solutions.
The advantages of the EcoTowerSorter® are obvious: Cost reduction, less space requirements, higher profits through higher sorting quality. As the material is fed into the systems once, the material distribution on the belt improves from deck to deck. This leads to high purity sorting of all fractions.
Toratec has recently developed their own EcoSort NIR sorting machine for the classification of plastics, and provides EcoSort X-Ray sorters for a variety of sorting tasks relating to light and heavy metal fractions.
The company has been successfully introducing their sorting solutions to the European and Japanese market, and is presently expanding their business activities in North America.
Toratec and Eriez Magnetics have joined their forces to complement their range of products and services. Eriez is recognized as the world leader in advanced technology for magnetic, vibratory and inspection applications and have developed many systems for the recycling industry including Eddy Current Separators, a specialist range of Metal Detectors and high intensity magnetic separators. Eriez manufactures and markets these products through eleven international facilities located on six continents.
The combination of joined strengths and resources will lead to further developments as well as investments. Toratec will use this opportunity, in combination with Eriez, to better insure their worldwide sales and services. By creating a better service network this allows Eriez as well as Toratec partners and customers a stable platform for many new interesting business projects.
Contact details: Call +34 93 804 82 66 or e-mail info@toratec.com
