Water & Wastewater Asia March/April 2021

IN THE FIELD WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | MARCH/APRIL 2021
BATTERY RECYCLING
COMPANY SAVES COST,
reduces maintenance with
Rosemount 5408 Level Transmitter
By Varshneya Sridharan, Product Manager, Process Level & Tank Gauging, Asia Pacific
Asia-Pacific is the largest and fastest growing
lithium-ion battery recycling market, with
several companies undertaking recycling in
the region, especially in China. Moreover, the
uptake of Electric Vehicles (EVs) is increasing
rapidly in Japan, China, Indonesia, Vietnam,
and the Philippines due to environmental
concerns and strong government support.
China recycled around 67,000 tons of lithiumion
batteries last year, which translates to
around 69% of all the stock available for
recycling worldwide, according to UKheadquartered
consultancy Circular Energy
Storage.
When visiting a customer who operates in the
battery recycling market in China, Emerson was
able to visualise the processes first-hand. During
interviews with the customer, Emerson engineers
identified two waste tanks used for recycling that
required reliable level measurement devices to
measure level and calculate volumes accurately.
The existing level instruments in use on the
The Rosemount
5408 is installed
on the metal
waste tank
process tanks were considered unreliable and
therefore unsuitable.
The recycling company agreed to install a
Rosemount Non-Contacting Radar Level
Transmitter with a process seal antenna on
the tank. The Rosemount 5408 utilises FMCW
(Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave)
technology and provides significantly better
signal-to-noise ratio than traditional 2-wire
non-contacting radars.
The Rosemount 5408 also provides early
alerts for antenna build-up, weak power
supply, or abnormal surface conditions,
which is of importance in challenging
applications with varying process
conditions, turbulence, high temperatures
and pressures. The process seal antenna
was developed specifically for demanding
applications and media such as reactors,
mixers and solids with high condensation
levels. All wetted parts are made from PTFE
to maximise corrosion resistance. Signal
quality metric diagnostics helped to detect
when the antenna was dirty, which enabled
preventive maintenance to be carried out.
The Rosemount 5408 provided robust and
accurate measurements in this challenging
environment during post installation which
was made easy using the quick start guide
with descriptive process in three easy steps.
In addition, the installation was achieved
quickly utilising the existing wiring for the
electrical connection with no additional cost
to the customer.
RESULTS
• Cost savings of $40,000 due to reduced
maintenance
• Continuous, accurate measurement
achieved without contact with product
surface
• Savings of 160 man hours due to
simple installation using existing cable
infrastructure
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