One of the most crucial and challenging parts of the recycling process is the separation and sorting of recyclable materials. An effective recycling process relies on an efficient magnetic separation and sorting process.
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This magnetic separation involves using powerful magnetic devices to sort ferrous impurities from non-magnetic materials. There are various types of magnetic separators that can be used appropriately in a recycling plant to remove ferrous materials or recover non-ferrous materials.
Using today’s advanced magnetic separation technology, metal separators, and recyclers can sort and separate not only bulk materials but also the smallest magnetic particles can be removed in effect by magnetics.
What’s more amazing is separating every bit of recyclable product, whether magnetic or non-magnetic, can not only help us economically but contributes to preserving our natural resources.
Magnetic separators can make your recycling process effective and allow the repurposing of recyclable materials easily. In this blog, we will learn about the best magnetic separators for the recycling industry and how they can benefit your recycling process.
Before we jump onto exploring the best magnetic separators, let’s first understand various types of recycling, the importance of recycling, and the magnetic separation process in recycling.
The separation of waste materials from different types of recyclables is crucial to reduce contamination. To give an example, both paper and glass are recyclable materials, though a smashed glass bottle can contaminate the entire box of paper, and it will end up in a landfill.
Due to less contamination of recyclable materials, the integrity of materials is also maintained for longer periods, and there is reduced downcycling.
Downcycling is a process of recycling material in such a way that the end product is obtained of a lower value than the original item. Hence, proper recycling can help maintain product quality for repurposing.
Many materials, such as cardboard, plastic, and others, can be recycled easily, which reduces the need for incinerators and landfills.
From rivers and lakes to wildlife, heavy metals, plastics, and other toxic materials can contaminate and damage our ecosystem. However, by recycling them, we can maintain a healthier ecosystem for both humans and wildlife.
The most important benefit of recycling is it preserves our planet’s natural resources. Recycling reduces the requirement for harvesting new raw materials from the earth by simply recycling them from waste products.
Before processing recyclable materials, it has to go through a magnetic separation process in order to become metal-free or free of any ferrous contamination. Magnetic separation is a process of separating ferrous metals using strong magnets from recyclable materials collected together.
A high product recovery rate is required in every recycling plant to ensure less material goes to landfills and less energy is used to make new products out of these recycled materials.
Hence, highly advanced magnetic separators are used for this separation process in recycling industries to ensure the highest level of purity is obtained in the end product. These magnetic separators effectively separate hazardous metals from products.
How is a magnetic separator used in recycling applications?
Magnetic separator is mainly used in the recycling industry to separate ferrous materials like tin, iron, steel, and many more.
Magnetic separators are available in generally two types of magnets, i.e., Rare earth magnets and ceramic magnets.
The type of magnet material to choose depends on the product density, its flow rates, operating conditions, and the type of ferrous impurities needed to be separated.
Ceramic magnets are used for separating tramp iron, while rare earth magnets are better suited for products with higher density, high flow rates, and weak magnetic materials.
Types of rare earth magnets that are used for magnetic separators are:
Jaykrishna Magnetics Pvt. Ltd. has years of experience and expertise in building the best recycling separation line that includes top-quality magnetic separators and vibratory equipment.
We are well aware of various recycling challenges and requirements. Hence we provide a diverse range of magnetic separators for various recycling industries. Whether you need a magnetic separator for handling plastic or glass, we provide recycling solutions focused on your unique recycling applications.
Here is the list of top magnetic separators that can be used for various recycling industries:
➱ Magnetic Roller Separator
➱ Belt Type Magnetic Separator
➱ Drum Type Magnetic Separator
➱ Eddy Current Separator
➱ Electromagnetic Overband Separator
➱ Overband Magnetic Separator
➱ Magnetic Plate
➱ Magnetic Rod
➱ Vibro Separator
➱ Permanent Magnetic Drum Pulley
➱ Suspension Magnet
Not only the recycling industry but there are many industries that rely on magnetic separators to ensure purity in their end products.
Below are some of the top benefits of using our magnetic separators for your applications
Magnetic separator plays an important role in ensuring the purity of end products. There are many manufacturing industries that can leave behind harmful metal powders in products.
But by using our magnetic separators, one can effectively separate even the tiniest metallic particles from the product, making it safe to consume.
Magnetic separators are easy to install and operate with minimal human attention. Our strongly constructed magnetic separators are built to last and require low maintenance.
Our magnetic separators are highly versatile, with unique capabilities to serve a wide range of industrial applications.
Sourcing your magnetic separators from a trusted manufacturer is very important.
Here at Jaykrishna Magnetics Pvt. Ltd., we have extensive magnet knowledge and experience in manufacturing quality magnetic separators with the right combination of robustness and magnetic properties.
Contact us to discuss your requirements of Eddy Current Separator Plants. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.
Our magnetic separators provide the best performance in separating fine fractions, weak magnetic metallic impurities, and non-ferrous metals.
For product requirements, please do contact us at +91 , +91 , or feel free to us at
Evolving Technology
According to Robert Broughton, scrap market manager, SteinertUS, eddy current technology has been constantly revised and improved upon as the methods of material preparation and presentation to machines has evolved.
"The evolution of nonferrous recovery has grown from being a small piece of available revenue streams to the main driver in many instances with different material feedstocks," said Broughton. "With this change in feedstocks, and a change in the economic model for many of the industries that we serve, we have continued to make changes to maximize the three main variables in ECS: throughput, recovery and purity."
Broughton said that some of the most meaningful change in ECS technology, for any application, from ELV to WEEE recycling, has been in the design of the magnetic system, in many cases optimized for smaller and smaller particle processing.
"Many times the new goal is not only getting the traditional nonferrous recovered, like aluminum and copper, but more and more, a strong emphasis is placed on the recovery of precious metals from these streams," he said.
Over the last few years Broughton notes that they have seen a tremendous change in how clients buy, process and sell their products. "Looking back only a few years, China's ‘Green Fence' initiative caused a large market disruption. Currently ‘National Sword ' (and Chinese import restrictions) are having similar effects. Steinert is still looking at the end goals of cleaner product, closer to a furnace-ready state."
He added that their company is also committed to the success of changing economic models that have occurred at MRFs over the last several years. "Our CanMaster product line offers a compact footprint and rotor designed specifically for the recovery of aluminum cans," he said. "We have even designed small modifications to reduce the potential contamination of plastic films in MRF aluminum cans."
Chris Ramsdell is product manager in Eriez' Recycling Group. He said the company has been designing, manufacturing and selling eddy current separators for almost 50 years.
Today, the company carries a broad ECS product line, and over the years, has supplied eddy current separators for dozens of different recycling applications, ranging from ASR processing to e-scrap, and PET flake to waste-to-energy bottom ash.
"ECS Technology has improved drastically in recent years," said Ramsdell. "The target has been to design machines that can maximize the recovery of smaller and smaller nonferrous metals that previously went unrecovered."
He stressed that the changing waste stream in MRFs has been a contributing factor to new equipment developments in the industry.
"Eriez' development and standardization on an eccentric eddy current rotor has allowed our MRF ECS units to become more tolerable of ferrous metals and more robust to handle higher throughput capacities, while maintaining the same great separation performance," he said. "Our latest ECS technology will reliably recover UBCs with 99 percent efficiency, at a significantly lower installed cost for the MRF."
Earlier this year, Industrial Magnetics, Inc. (IMI) based in Michigan, acquired Javelin Manufacturing, an ECS manufacturer based in Indiana. (See news, page 10 of this issue.) IMI's chief business development officer, Dennis O'Leary, said that as the magnet supplier for Javelin since , they have been fortunate to gain a view of the markets and technological evolution in ECS through their lens.
"There have been large strides made in terms of magnetic geometry, magnet strength, rotational speeds and unit widths and belt speeds," he said. "One obvious initiative and push in ECS development currently is the fines recovery unit."
O'Leary also noted that he attributes all of these developments to the need to meet requirements presented by an ever-changing and growing waste stream in all sectors.
Steelweld Fabrications, based in the U.K., has been working for over 30 years as a sub-contractor supplying welded and assembled components to the crushing and screening industry. Due to legislative demands in the recycling industry over the last decade, the company decided to design and manufacture their own range of products under the subsidiary Steelweld Enviro. The company's first offering, introduced in , is a portable (track-mounted) eddy current separator.
"The technological advances seen by eddy current separators have greatly increased throughput capacity while maintaining a high level of separation across a range of applications," said Andrew Mackle, senior engineer, Steelweld Enviro.
"Over the last few years we've seen ECS systems becoming more compact requiring less power to run, yet becoming more powerful with respect to separation. The first machine in our range is a portable eddy current separator - the Strobe ECS ."
The latest models
"Our Strobe allows for 3-product separation - ferrous metals, nonferrous metals and non-metallics," continued Steelweld Enviro's Andrew Mackle. "The feed speed of material over the eddy current drum and the speed of the eddy drum are variable, to cope with a range of product types, and the unit can be powered by an on-board 65-kVA generator or plugged into mains electricity. It also features low-pressure crawler tracks so it can be used on softer terrain."
He said they have created a complete ECS system on tracks, including discharge conveyors and on-board power.
"Our design brief was to build a reliable portable ECS that allows the customer the freedom to bring the Strobe to the material, unlike static ECS applications where the material must be brought to the unit to be processed," continued Mackle.
"The fact that the unit is fully portable allows the customer to separate various material types that they might not have considered before, rather than having the ECS in a fixed recycling plant with a single waste stream."
Eriez' latest model eddy current separator was designed for very fine (-1/4-inch) sized material. According to Chris Ramsdell, the model UHF (Ultra High Frequency) ECS is a high-strength and high-frequency machine designed so that, when material is sized properly, customers can reliably recover bare copper wire and microfine cast aluminum. "We've found that, with our UHF ECS, ASR processors, for example, are recovering an additional three to five percent of additional fine zorba that had previously been sent to landfill," he said.
IMI's Dennis O'Leary said their initial product offering started with an over-2-inch particle size removal and an under 1-1/2-inch particle size recovery unit. They then moved on to a stronger, higher-polarity unit designed for material that can be used "across the board," from +5-inch to < 3/8-inch particle sizes. "As we move forward we will continue to develop product that flanks our existing technology and will give the customer the most marketable product," said O'Leary. "We want to be seen as a strategic partner who brings value, versus a parts supplier."
SteinertUS' Robert Broughton said Steinert has never waivered on their commitment to improve the performance of eddy current separators, continually evolving the product line to match a variety of different separation tasks. He said Steinert's innovation in this space has recently yielded several new product lines, most significantly development in the microfines and <5mm areas.
"Steinert's new EddyC Fines is specially developed for recovering fine nonferrous metals and incorporates a number of innovations from magnetic design, splitter adjustment capabilities and maintenance-friendly options, including a 10 minute belt-change frame design," he said.
Buyer considerations
Chris Ramsdell pointed out that two of the most important elements for a recycling operation to consider, when thinking about adding ECS technology, are the percentage of recoverable nonferrous metals in the material to be processed, and/or material grade improvement.
"This is information that we're able to supply to the customer prior to them making a purchasing decision," he said. "Eriez Magnetics offers material testing services at our Central Test Lab in Erie, Pennsylvania. We're able to supply magnetic separation and eddy current separation testing depending on the application requirements. At the conclusion of the testing, Eriez will furnish a complete test report which includes weight splits, material yields and high resolution photos of the separated materials." Buyers should make sure they do their research and find out which waste streams an ECS is best suited to, said Steelweld Enviro's Andrew Mackle. Static vs. mobile configurations should also be considered.
"Complete static eddy current systems can be expensive to design and install, only to find out they're not giving the end product as required," he said. "This is where the Strobe has a huge advantage." Because it is mobile, "it does not tie down a customer to a single material type.
"It's also important that time is spent so the system is set up correctly," he continued, adding that existing equipment is another important consideration. Buyers should consider what equipment they have in hand, and how it might help maximize results when used in tandem with an ECS.
"Better results may be achieved with additional processes in place, before feeding any material onto the ECS," added Mackle. This can be achieved with shredding and screening equipment, and "by having an even bed height of material passing over the eddy current drum, via a vibrating pan feeder."
Steinert's Broughton advises his buyers to look for eddy current separators that are specifically matched to the size and makeup of the material to be recovered, and for machines with excellent reliability and serviceability.
He said the next most important variable to understand is ensuring that the capacity of the eddy current is not exceeded and to purchase the correct width unit to maximize results.
"In the past, eddy currents were sometimes only used to recover the ‘cream of the milk' as quickly as possible," he said. "With the new economics of large-scale recycling, every percentage point of metallic value is essential to the profitability, or lack thereof, of the enterprise."
According to IMI's O'Leary, when purchasing an eddy current or magnet, one of the most important considerations is the customer's comfort level with the company and staff supplying and supporting the equipment.
Questions buyers should ask include: "Is the company leading us to the equipment that will solve our problem or selling what they have to sell? Are they going to be around when we need them? Will they take care of any problems that may arise? Do they keep spare parts on the shelf and are they reasonable priced?" "Eddy current technology, in and of itself, is fairly basic," said O'Leary. "You can buy a great piece of equipment and then rue the day you bought it if you can't get help when you need it."
Changing materials, Artificial Intelligence and new profitability
Going forward, Steelweld Enviro points to the biomass and waste-to-energy sectors as ones to watch for growth in applications of ECS technology."In the U.K. we're seeing a higher level of separation requirements, especially in the wood and waste biomass industry," said Mackle. "In these applications there must be zero metallic presence before the material enters the burners to generate electricity. With renewable energy on the increase, there is more demand for ECS systems to cope with organic biomass fuels."
He continued, "With many countries adapting to renewable energy, there will be an increase in demand of a clean biomass product. The Strobe reduces the amount of manual labour required with a consistent and repeatable level of clean material that is separated into three individually defined stockpiles."
Eriez' Chris Ramsdell said a trend they are noticing in the MRF equipment sector currently is the increase in AQC (autonomous quality control) technology being introduced to the market, adding that ECS will play a role in any new MRF landscape.
"The Max-AI technology now offered by NRT uses vision systems and artificial intelligence to identify each item and a robotic arm to lift and sort each piece of material to its proper location," he said. "This equipment is reducing the need for manual pickers even with a more heterogeneous material stream."
By installing an ECS upstream of AQC and artificially intelligent sorters, recyclers "can greatly reduce the burden of material that these systems are required to sort," he said. According to Steinert's Broughton, over the coming months and years ahead, there will be a continued focus on fines and microfine particles in the eddy current separator sector. "We describe these particles in several different ways, but historically, much of the value in material streams (<5mm) have gone to waste or landfill," he said. "These streams can be substantial revenue adders and do not involve changing current inbound material costs.
"Many new separators are generating new money or new revenue streams for operations," continued Broughton. "This can significantly increase profitability or competitiveness within a region."
One final trend going forward, said Broughton, has to do with the need for the industry as a whole to adapt to an ever-restrictive and demanding end user marketplace. "Product metallic purity is very important, but long-term, moving from a mixed metal stream to furnace-ready base metals is the trend," he said. "Eddy currents, along with X-ray or other refinement technologies are critical to ensure access to this market and optimal material values." RPN
This article was originally published in Recycling Product News, October , Volume 25, Number 7.
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