Recent BIR World Recycling Convention & Exhibition in Dubai

(18-20 May 2015)

Shredder Committee:  BIR flags up economic, operational and environmental benefits of shredded scrap

A new BIR brochure promoting shredded scrap was unveiled at the latest meeting of the world recycling association’s Shredder Committee by its Chairman Jens Hempel-Hansen of H.J. Hansen Recycling Industry A/S in Denmark.

“Benefits of using shredded ferrous scrap in steel mills and foundries” explains the shredding process and references EU, US and Japanese specifications. Furthermore, it outlines the economic, operational and environmental benefits of shredded over other scrap types, including: a reduction in CO2 emissions and in slag production; shorter melting times; and faster loading for inland water and deep-sea transportation.

Also at the meeting in Dubai on May 18, BIR Shredder Committee board members provided delegates with an overview of shredder installations. The meeting learned that both the EU and America comprised shredder populations of around 300 but also that a significant number had been mothballed in recent months. George Adams of SA Recycling in the USA said some had been shut down because of a lack of volume, especially if a company had two shredders in the same geographical area. “Overcapacity” was identified by Manuel Burnand of Coframetal in France as the main reason behind recent mothballing in Europe. Salam Sharif of Sharif Metals in the UAE noted in particular that numbers in the Convention’s host region had soared from five or six to around 30 in the period since the event had last been held in Dubai six years earlier.

Fires were affecting many shredder operations because growth in electronics meant “batteries in everything”, according to Mr Adams. Lithium-containing batteries posed a particular problem because exposure of the metal would generally lead to a fire. Given that fires in large piles of scrap were particularly difficult to bring under control, he urged operators to “shred every day” or to keep piles to a minimum so that they could be more easily pulled apart for the purpose of putting out any fire.

The optimisation of shredder processes through implementation of advanced automotive shredder residue technologies was addressed by the Shredder Committee’s guest speaker in Dubai. Heiner Guschall, Managing Director of SICON GmbH in Germany, emphasised the need for advanced shredders to be flexible in order to “cope with the challenge of a changing feedstock composition”, including the electrification of cars which, he argued, would result in a constant increase in copper contents.

Regarding non-ferrous downstream, the speaker contended that the modular SICON-120 system permitted a flexible design for adjustment to changing shredder feedstock. Shredders subject to intense competition could survive only if non-ferrous metals recovery were optimised, he insisted.