Download - MeWa Recycling Maschinen und Anlagenbau GmbH

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Metal recycling
Stripped down twice:
One QZ
with two jobs
It‘s its versatility that makes it so valuable. In Portugal,
the MeWa Querstromzerspaner QZ now also strips
From left to right: José Manuel Teixeira,
Alain Schröder and Paulo Lourenco.
down old electrical devices and
at the same time cleans the
ferrous metals that stem from
other waste flows. The result is
perfect utilisation of the plant.
The Portuguese company Transucatas
has its origins in metal recycling,
with several sites across Portugal.
With its expansion in recent years, plants
for recycling tyres and various industrial waste
products have also been added. Transucatas
also uses turn-key MeWa plants with
pre-granulation, granulation and separating
technology to produce homogeneous
substitute fuels in defined grain sizes from
mixed industrial waste.
In these plant types, a magnetic separator
removes the ferrous metals from
the material flow after pre-granulation.
However, there are often still plastic films
and textiles attached to the sharp-edged
wires and metal profiles. This significantly
impairs the intrinsic value of the metal
fraction. Further processing of the metals
is therefore recommended.
Transucatas has now implemented
a solution in Maia, near Porto, which is
trend-setting in two ways: Recently, the
company also started recycling electronic
scrap and in doing so drafted a plant plan
together with MeWa and the Portuguese
MeWa sales partner Gruman, which can
strip down electronic scrap and also separate
metals from different origins.
With the MeWa QZ 2000 HD Querstromzerspaner,
it is possible to meet all
the requirements of the European WEEE
directive regarding environmentally friendly
recycling of waste electrical and electronic
equipment and, at the same time,
guarantee highly economical utilisation
of the plant.
Chains instead of knives
This is primarily due to the recycling
principle of the patented MeWa machine.
In contrast to shredding plants, which
are operated in Portugal too by competitor
companies, the QZ Querstromzerspaner
does not rely on cutting tools. Instead,
chains, which are fitted to the floor
of a tank, accelerate the material at high
speeds. The reciprocal physical stress and
the impact against the drum wall cause
the material to break down. And it does
this in a gentle manner. Large parts break
up, but small parts exit the outlet opening
of the machine intact.
Looks like plastic waste... ...but is 70% ferrous metal.
Metal recycling
This principle is particularly beneficial
for electrical equipment. Environmentally
harmful parts, such as batteries and capacitors,
remain undamaged. At the same
time, plastic housings, transformers, aluminium
components, computer PCBs and
other components are separated. The metals
incorporated in shafts and electric motors,
for example, present no obstacle to
the Querstromzerspaner. The wear costs
are minimal compared to those of shredder
plants, and contamination due to destroyed
capacitors and batteries is not a
problem.
The plant in Maia takes full advantage
of these benefits. In addition to electrical
scrap, metal separator fractions can be dispatched
in the QZ. Plastics and textiles separate
from the metals and lie freely on the
evacuation conveyor ready for subsequent
sorting. After the Querstromzerspaner, the
material runs through various classification
and separating technologies as well as Fe/
NFe separation. A downstream sorting cabin
is used for quality assurance. At the
end, the fractions are ready for sale in maximum
purities. Depending on the material
composition, throughputs of four to six
tons per hour can be achieved.
Satisfied partners
The Transucatas partners, José Manuel
Teixeira and Carlos Teixeira, are impressed
with the investment: „With the versatility
of the MeWa QZ, we will later be able
to run the plant in three-shift operation.
After the successful test phase, we can
promise ourselves the best output results
and high profitability.“ ■
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