Value from shredder waste: Ongoing limitations in the UK

Forton, Osric Tening; Harder, Marie K.; Moles, Norman

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2005.06.007

Cited by 43 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…End-oflife equipment is fed into hammer mills, which reduces all parts in size; these parts are then separated using an array of processes such as air classification, magnetic and eddy current separators into three major streams: ferrous, nonferrous scraps, and a light fraction which mainly consist of plastics called SRM. Ferrous and nonferrous fractions are recycled in metallurgical plants for recovery of metals [2]. The fraction with low metal value and high fraction of plastics is considered to be more problematic due to its complexity and low economic value.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alternative Reducing Agents in Metallurgical Processes: Devolatilization of Shredder Residue Materials

Lotfian

Ahmed

Samuelsson

2016

J. Sustain. Metall.

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Plastic-containing shredder residue material has the potential to be used as an alternative reducing agent in nonferrous bath smelting processes. This would lead to not only decreased dependency on primary sources such as coal or coke but also to an increase in the efficiency of utilization of secondary sources. This calls for systematic scientific investigations, wherein these secondary sources are compared with primary sources with respect to devolatilization characteristics, combustion characteristics, reactivity, etc. As a first step, in this paper, devolatilization characteristics of plastic-containing shredder residue material (SRM) are compared to those of coal using thermogravimetric analysis. Proximate analysis has shown that SRM mainly decomposes by release of volatiles, while coal shows high fixed carbon content, which is reported to contribute to reduction reactions. To study the reduction potential of the evolved materials, composition of evolved off-gas was continuously monitored using quadrupole mass spectroscopy. The composition of volatiles shows H 2 , CO, and hydrocarbons which are known to have reduction potential. Therefore, it is essential that SRM would be used in a process that could utilize the evolved volatiles for reduction. Furthermore, to understand the potentials of different plastic materials as reducing agents, the devolatilization mechanisms and volatile composition of three common plastics, namely, polyethylene, polyurethane, and polyvinylchloride and their mixtures have been studied. The results show the interaction between the plastics within the binary and ternary mixtures. Similar phenomena may occur during devolatilization of SRM, which contains different type of plastics.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alternative Reducing Agents in Metallurgical Processes: Devolatilization of Shredder Residue Materials

Lotfian

Ahmed

Samuelsson

2016

J. Sustain. Metall.

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“…Although large, constant supplies are available [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] to provide a secure supply, shredder residue contains proportions of sulphur, chlorine [13], heavy metals [14][15][16] and contaminant oils [17] from elastomers, PVC, metals and car fluids respectively which can vary significantly from hour to hour, requiring demanding design features the pyrolysis process. Not only the presence of these materials but the fluctuations in their levels in the feed [18][19][20][21] provides many challenges, themselves due to variations of types and ages of vehicles, additional scrap feed from white goods and light iron, [6,[21][22][23][24] and even different operating conditions at contractors supplying the feed. Adding to these challenges are the highly variable moisture content [12,18,21,22,24] and energy content [6,7,[25][26][27][28][29] of SR. Full information on all of these parameters is needed for the design of appropriate thermal processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A critical review of developments in the pyrolysis of automotive shredder residue

Harder

Forton

2007

Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis

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Worldwide, automotive shredder residue (ASR) is considered an increasingly problematic mixture of materials that needs the development of a processing solution.Pyrolysis is a process that has many advantages to offer, but despite many studies and developments in recent years at various levels of commercialisation, it is still generally considered unproven for this purpose. This paper critically considers developmental work published in the field, presents new results, and suggests that a major reason for the lack of development is the complexity of the landscape created by strong, competing, economic, legislative, environmental and commercial drivers, which in turn make it unclear which products and processes are optimal. This is made doubly complex by the natural variation in the material composition of ASR, with contaminants that can critically affect its potential fate to anywhere in the range from hazardous waste, to energy source, to useful raw material for major cement or steel industries.New data on critical factors such as levels of chlorine and metals in raw and pyrolysed ASR are presented, alongside a much-needed summary of previously published values from references that are often difficult to source. The summaries emphasise the variation in the material, but also indicate rough boundaries for values, which are needed for the design of any potentially successful process. 3It is suggested that the heterogeneity seen across ASR types implies that specialised processing of SR on its own is unlikely. It is pointed out that small-scale processes that could be suitable for local requirements should be considered for development as they could be able to optimise a process sufficiently to make it viable, e.g. specialised local waste streams of paper pulp and a particular fraction of SR.

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“…the replacement of steel with plastic in car manufacturing) and improved materials recovery technology. (Forton et al, 2006). It should be noted, however, that the processes have been optimised and that the normal yield of separated non-ferrous products today is closer to 5% than the 1 to 3% shown (Isager, 2009;Skibdal, 2009). Many shredder plants are much more sophisticated than the one shown, and apply further separation steps to the waste, in particular to extract more metal before the waste stream is discarded.…”

Section: General Characteristics and Composition Of Srmentioning

confidence: 99%