FEATURE
Electrostatically recovering copper wire
Images by Paul Fears Photography
A COMBINATION of an ElectroStatic Separator and a dual-stage Metal Separation Module is enabling the recovery of fine copper and other metals from a waste product at a UK metal recycling company.
Bunting is one of the world’s leading designers and manufacturers of magnetic separators, eddy current separators and electrostatic separators for the recycling and waste industries. The Bunting
European manufacturing and product testing facilities are in Redditch, just outside Birmingham, and Berkhamsted, both in the United Kingdom.
The Bunting ElectroStatic Separator, launched earlier in 2020, significantly enhances the ability of companies to recover fine metals such as copper wire. In this project, the feed material is fine material from air-extraction post- shredding; a mix normally classified as
waste despite the valuable metal content. Previous attempts to recover the metal constituent, including fine copper wire, had been unsuccessful.
Prior to ordering the equipment, controlled tests conducted at Bunting’s Customer Experience Centre in Redditch determined that a three-stage separation process would enable high levels of metal recovery and purity.
On site, between one and two tonnes per hour of the metal mix initially passes through the Metal Separation Module before the final stage of ElectroStatic Separation. The Metal Separation Module consists of a Ferrite Drum Magnet, Vibratory Feeder and high-intensity Rare Earth Roll Separator.
Separating magnetic metals Stage one features a Ferrite Drum Magnet removing strong magnetic metal. The Drum Magnet has a stationary magnetic element arc mounted inside a rotating stainless-steel shell. Material falls onto the top of the rotating shell and is carried into the deep field. Attracted magnetic metals are held to the surface before being discarded underneath the drum. Non-magnetic metals fall under a normal trajectory onto the tray of a Vibratory Feeder. This regulates and presents an even, monolayer of material onto the belt of the Rare Earth Roll Separator.
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