CASTING INNOVATIONS Metal Recovery Increases Savings
For years, an engineer at a medium-sized iron casting facility in the north central U.S. viewed the hundreds of tons of slag waste from its melting operation as an untapped piggy bank. It was no secret that useable metal was ac- companying the slag from the cu- pola melting department to storage behind the facility, but they were too busy to consider reclaiming the metal from slag. Because it was easy to dispose of, the opportunity was shelved time and again. Dur- ing the national economic down- turn in 2008, a process efficiency team figured the time was right to tap into that piggy bank and realize the potential savings. To gauge the metal content in its slag waste, the metalcaster sent a sample for testing to Didion Inter- national Inc., St. Peters, Mo., which offers such services free of charge. When the initial results topped 60% useable metal content, the metalcast- ing facility sent two more samples to be sure the first wasn’t taken from an unusually rich part of the waste. After the following two tests
confirmed metallic reclamation rates above 60%, the facility pur-
The reclamation system turns waste (top) into reusable metal.
chased a Didion Rotary Slag Separa- tor/Metal Reclaimer with a variable jet burner and Conveyor Dynamics feed and discharge conveyors. Te unmanned, stand-alone system was installed near the charging/melt department and designed with a dust-tight hopper to be front-loaded into a vibratory feeder that is metered into the slag separator/reclaimer. Te slag separator/reclaimer is a
multi-chambered machine designed to crush and separate large chunks of slag from iron metallics. A crusher fractures the oxides, which are con- tinually recirculated until they pass through the screening system. Te metalcaster recouped its equipment cost in a matter of months. Since installation, the metalcaster
has reclaimed more than 2,000 tons of metal that otherwise would have gone into a landfill. “When we started accumulating
the waste, we couldn’t give it away for free, much less sell it,” said the facil- ity’s environmental engineer. “With the installation of the metal reclama- tion system, we have permanently increased our utilization of scrap and
decreased our overall waste.” Visit
www.didion.com for more information.
The separator/reclaimer has recovered more than 2,000 tons of metal. December 2013 MODERN CASTING | 51
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