16. 8. 2022
Separation of ferrous and non-ferrous metals from small sized crushed plastics (case study)
Initial status
As recycling of plastic materials is carried out by various machinery (shredders, mills, granulators etc.), the final (crushed) material may be contaminated with metal particles (e.g. fragments of knives from shredders, etc.). Contamination of the input material is also quite often (e.g. some plastic parts are originally combined with metal materials, etc.).
Problem
Our client (a recycling company engaged in the processing of used plastics and the production of plastic regrind) relied on good experience with his suppliers of raw materials (the plastic waste was always supplied clean and without metal contamination). That was why our client considered protection against foreign bodies as an unnecessary additional cost. Unfortunately, one of the batches of input material purchased by him contained metal fragments and this was only discovered by the companies taking crushed plastics from our client. The subsequent very unpleasant quality complaint and the necessity to pay the resulting damages led our client to think about a purchase of a magnetic separator and an all-metal detector.
Solution
On the production line, where post-production plastics are crushed, the resulting plastic regrind is firstly transported by suction (= under pressure) in a pipeline with a diameter of 200 mm. Afterwards it falls by gravity and at that place we installed the MSS-MC LUX 200/5 N drawer magnet with an inlet diam. of 200 mm (fitted with five very strong neodymium tubes generating a magnetic induction of 18,700 Gauss), followed by the Quicktron 03 R DN200 all-metal detector.
Using the combined protection system eliminated the possibility of any metal contamination of the final product and our client was very satisfied with the solution.
Reasons for the application of the MSS-MC LUX 200/5 magnetic grid separator in combination with the Quicktron 03 R DN 200 all-metal detector:
In the field of drawer magnets with manual cleaning, the MSS-MC LUX 200/5 belongs to the world leaders. In addition to high magnetic efficiency, it also boasts above standard protection of the magnetic cores (protective bag + tube-in-tube system). Besides, as there was a worse access to the device at the application place (it was located relatively high), our system of guide rails represented a great advantage for the client during the separator cleaning. And, of course, a significant factor in favor of using a magnetic separator together with an all-metal detector was also the fact that, in general, about 70% of all metal contaminants are magnetic particles (which can be captured with a magnetic separator). In addition - compared to a metal detector - the magnetic separator also has a much higher efficiency as it can separate even magnetic dust from 1 micron in size.
However, due to the very high demands on the quality of the final products made by the customers of our client, removing only magnetic metals from plastic regrind would not be a complex solution. Therefore, we also installed the all-metal Quicktron 03 R metal detector behind the magnetic grid separator. This guaranteed the separation of all (both magnetic and non-magnetic) metal particles from the plastic regrind.
Financial benefits of our solution for the client
Since the cost of the single claim represented approximately 50 % of the price of our metal separation system, the return on investment was extremely fast (and, moreover, our system permanently protects the client's reputation).
Applied equipment: MSS-MC LUX and QUICKTRON 03 R