Recycling Insider - The Iron Frag Line

Last week I posted about the milling process - or the way the metal scrap is shredded into smaller pieces that can be handled by other equipment downstream.

Today I will discuss the magnetic separator, or how iron and steel are pulled from the mix, and non-ferrous metals and fluff and debris are routed to another line.

I am fortunate to work in the only indoor separation facility on the east coast. There are very few indoor facilities in the USA - they are more common in Europe. The benefit of an indoor facility is obvious - the employees to not have to work in rain, snow, hail, thunderstorms or otherwise inclimate weather conditions.

I found this cool video on YouTube that shows how the separator works. of course, all this happens inside a large metal cased machine so you cannot see it in operation at a recycling plant.

The shredded mess of debris and metals comes out of the pulverizer and onto the transfer belt to the separator. As you can see in this video, the iron and steel ferrous metals jump to the magnetic wheel to be thrown onto the feed belt and sent to the iron Frag Line.

The non-ferrous metals such as copper, brass, aluminum (or alumium as one employee says it) and stainless steel drop down to another transfer belt, along with the bulk of the fluff.

Fluff is the stuff that isn't metal - the insulation inside refrigerators, the headliners and seat stuffing in cars, the shag carpet in the coversion vans that thank god are being taken off the road steadily...

The iron frag line is actually two lines with the system at use were I work. The conveyor belt that moves the iron frag rotates at an insane speed. The end roller is magnetic and through centrifugal force separates the larger frag from the smaller, cleaner frag.

The clean frag goes down one line, and one employee sorts the line. Every line, whether iron frag or non-ferrous or fluff has at least one sorter. Sorters pull out whatever is not supposed to go into the stack at the end of that line.

In the iron frag line, that would be rags, insulation, wood and other fluff as well as copper. The frag is pretty much immediately loaded onto rail cars and sent to buyers who use it to make recycled iron and steel product. The machines do a fairly good job of cleaning the crap out, but not perfect. The sorter has to pull the crap out - including copper.  The end buyer does not want copper mixed with their iron.

You may ask why they don't want it. of course we all know why the recycling facility doesn't want it included - they sell it to customers that need copper to recycle - and copper gets a much higher price per ton.

Iron is, well it is the product of iron ore. It has, ideally, nothing else mixed in. Steel is an alloy of iron mixed with tin, zinc, chromium or other metals specific to the end purpose. Copper and aluminum cause big problems with the end result if there are too much of either of them in the alloy.

You ask how fluff and copper get into the iron frag lines to begin with, since the metal is separated magnetically? Fluff is snagged by ragged metal and pulled through. The copper is composed basically of windings from transformers and electric motors, all of which have iron components. It takes a sharp eye and quick hands to snag them from the conveyor belt as they are transported to the iron frag stack.

Next week I will post about the non-ferrous lines, and especially the rare earth eddy current separators which are really amazing. And I have a video for those, too!

Recycling Insider's look - the Pulverizer or Shredder

Wow, it has been more than a year and a half since my last post. I guess I sorta lost interest in posting about scrapping, even though I still do it for extra cash. For this post I plan on taking a different tack, as I now have a new perspective.

Have you ever wondered what happens to scrap after you drop it off and collect your cash?  I am now able to offer a behind the scenes look into the entire operation.

This year I got a job at a local recycling facility. I work on the iron "frag" line, so my main topics will be the iron end of the process.

At a typical scrap yard you have two major areas where you drop off scrap.  you have the "iron pile", which is sort of a misnomer because it is the huge pile where you drop off large items that contain metal of any sort. That is the huge mountain of debris you see in the yard, typically with cranes with claws placing piles onto a large conveyor belt.

Many scrap yards are not set up to pulverize the metal - they typically sell scrap in bulk to operations such as the one I work at. At our plant, light metal which includes anything up to the size of a conversion van, is fed unto a huge conveyor called the InFeed, which then drops it into the pulverizer or shredder. The shredder is referred to as "the Mill" in the industry.

If you have ever seen one on operation, you will notice an immense cloud of steam emitting from the mill. This is caused by water evaporating. Water is run into the machine to keep it and the metal scrap cool.

As the metal is fed into the machine, it enters the pit which is a large square room about 10' x 10' by 10', more or less.  The walls are around 8 inches thick, all steel.

Inside the room are two circular rotors with four sets of axles that contain hammers, bell shaped cast steel that swing and pound entire cars through steel grates - turning the scrap into four to six inch pieces of frag. The rotors turn at an insane speed, turning an automobile into scrap in a matter of seconds.

The metal coming out of the mill can reach temperatures in excess of 150 degrees Fahrenheit. The stuff exiting the mill is a mass of shredded metals and dirt and debris which then has to be separated to be of any value. In future posts I will go into detail about the rest of the process.

Scrap prices increase - so does competition

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. Think about it.

Local shredder feed prices have increased from .095 to .1025 cents per pound. Aluminum cans from 52 cents to 65 cents. This is good news for scrappers - more money per load. But it also means there is greater competition.

Prices increased, and I have had a more difficult time finding scrap. I have the best luck going out at 1 or 2pm the afternoon before trash day. You get the early birds and first dibs at good scrap. Also, I have found that most people discarding large items tend to put them on the curb earlier.

With Daylight Savings Time, you have to get up pretty darned early to beat the others, and I have never been an early riser.

Money Money Money

The local recycling center here in Millville is currently paying .095 cents per pound for shredder feed. This is any steel or iron item - and it can have plastic or wood attached - they shred entire cars, upholstery and all.

I understand, however, that some yards are now paying more for the more valuable metals. Cumberland Recycling only pays 70 cents a pound for aluminum - it must not be mixed with iron or anything else. I understand that another yard in Vineland is paying $1.20 per pound.

Yellow Brass is going for $1.60 at Cumberland, elsewhere they are paying over $2. #2 Copper is going for $2.75, up from $2.55 a couple weeks ago. The other place is paying over $3. That is quite a big difference - so it pays to shop around.

If you are reading this blog, and would like to contribute the local prices for scrap in your area, please comment or contact me. I would like to create an up to date price list by region.

If you are a recycling center, please contact me. Maybe we can work out some sort of ad agreement.

Maximize Profits

The secret to successfully scrapping lies in maximizing the profits while minimizing your effort. You have to ask yourself just how much work is involved in getting the scrap?

Shredder feed is generally iron and steel. It can be mixed with other materials just as long the the bulk is metal. Currently the price for shredder feed is 9.5 cents a pound. To make any money, you need a LOT of scrap.

Old appliances are perfect candidates. Old metal sheds - as long as you can dismantle them quickly enough to make the work worth while. It takes over 300 pounds of scrap to make 30 bucks.

But stop! Before you go tossing that old fridge, maximize your profit. The fridge has a compressor. That compressor is worth 15 cents a pound! Remove and and separate it. The compressors are usually secured with four cotter pins, sometimes with four bolts.

The copper tube will fetch you $2.70 a pound, well worth the effort to separate. Old electrical cords go for 70 cents a pound, worth cutting off of appliances and putting in a separate pile.

There are some times that just take too much effort to separate. I had two edgers with gas motors. The engines are cast aluminum, worth 70 cents a pound. If there was a way to easily remove the engines, it would be worthwhile. It took me close to an hour to get the heads off. Five pounds at 70 cents a pound for cast aluminium  - is an hour of your time really worth $3.50? 

The idea is to look for the easy money. Otherwise, it is better to get a job at WalMart!

October 02, 2010

The Devil is in the Details

I was a big fan of Sherlock Homes as a teenager. One summer I read every Holmes mystery. Trust me, there are a lot of them. Holmes was the master of observation. he would observe the minutest detail and know a person's entire history.

Well, I don't need a person's history, but I did learn to observe. One day at the scrap yard I saw an older gentleman with a load of scrap, sorting it into piles on a flatbed hand-cart. he had a pile of Christmas lights and lamp cords. it had never occurred to me to recycle the Christmas lights, nor to cut the power cords from electronic equipment.

It turns out they give you 70 cents a pound for light cords and electric cable. If you could find some way to strip the cords easily, the raw copper is $2.70 a pound. I'll settle for the 70cents. Less hassle.

Another day I was driving around town, scouting for scrap. I saw a local bum on his bicycle messing around with a toilet tank that was on the curb. I wondered what he was doing when it suddenly dawned on me. He was yanking out the  metal works inside the old toilet tank. I could have kicked myself, I had passed at least a half dozen old toilets that week.

October 01, 2010

Friends in Low Places

Trash day for the West Side is long past, but people still will take items to the curb. I have a friend that lives out that way, and his neighbor lost an aluminum lamp post in a recent wind storm. The wind sheered the thing right off the base. Bad for Derek's neighbor, good for me.

The neighbor left the lamp post by the curb, along with two steel patio chairs. Derek called me right away to inform me. I wasted no time in driving out and picking it up - hey, it's free money!