Eriez urges WTE plants to invest in iron recovery

Pennsylvania-based magnetic separation equipment producer Eriez is urging waste-to-energy (WTE) industry plant operators to respond to lofty ferrous scrap prices by investing in systems to recover more marketable iron and steel scrap.

Eriez says it has equipment to separate “lucrative amounts of metals from the inbound or residue streams attached to waste-to-energy (WTE) and refuse-derived fuel (RDF) application processes, enabling operators to take full advantage of current conditions where price and demand for steel is surging to record highs.”

Depending on how they are configured, WTE and RDF plants may require different metal recovery techniques since material in each application is vastly different in size and composition, according to Eriez Heavy Industry Market Manager Darrell Milton.

When it comes to recovering metals from bottom ash in WTE applications, Eriez typically recommends two types of equipment: the Eriez P-Rex permanent drum magnet and one or more eddy current separators.

“The P-Rex scrap drum magnet has many advantages over competitive drum magnets,” says Milton. “Most notable of all is its incredible magnetic strength and imperceptibility to heat soak.” Milton says the P-Rex also has a proven track record of providing significant financial benefits for WTE customers. “Eriez’ introduction of the P-Rex magnetic drum into the WTE market has provided our customers a significant increase in ferrous metal recoveries, in some cases over 50 percent,” he says.

Of the current market, Milton says, “Record steel prices bring remarkable opportunities to WTE.”

The eddy current separator handles nonferrous fragments including fines. Its eccentric rotor produces a powerful focused field to deliver unmatched performance.

“Within RDF plants, inbound material is treated pre-burn via shredding, screening and metal separation,” Milton comments. “In this case, Eriez can provide a magnetic separator for ferrous material recovery and an eddy current separator for nonferrous metals recovery.” Milton says the combination produces results with “high metal separation efficiency.”

More information on the Eriez product line for the WTE and RDF markets can be found on this web page.