ABOUT THE CLIENT

Francisco Alberich S.A. (https://alberich.net/en/) is a traditional scrap dealer handling mainly ferrous and nonferrous scrap material. The company is active in industrial demolition, scrap metal, waste management and recovery, industrial and environmental engineering, and the international trade in ferrous and nonferrous metals.

OBJECTIVE

As veterans of the industry, Francisco Alberich already had a clear idea of what they were looking for: a complete solution for cable recycling, aluminium recycling, and electronics recycling. The cable was to be mixed dry cables (e.g. communication wire, copper wire, and mixed household wire). The aluminium was also expected to be mixed (diecast, profiles, etc.). The process input capacity needed to be about 2.5 tonnes per production hour, i.e. 250 tonnes cable and 150 tonnes aluminium per month. Electronics contained mixed electronic waste (e.g. computers, small home appliances and other electronic scrap). It was vital that changes required to switch the process between cable recycling, aluminium recycling, and electronics recycling should be kept to a minimum. “When we selected ELDAN as our supplier, we weren’t looking for a specific machine, but instead for a concept, an idea, a complete process that would fit our project and goals," says Rafael Martínez, Technical Manager at Francisco Alberich. "When making such an important decision, one that affects the current situation as well as the future for our company, many arguments were taken into account, and we compared several solutions and offerings”

SOLUTIONS

In 2006, Francisco Alberich acquired a specially designed combi plant for cable recycling, aluminium recycling, and electronics recycling. The Super Chopper can process cable at 3-8 tonnes/ hour, while the granulation and separation plant can process 250 tonnes/month. The metal purity of the output is 99,5 %. Generally, the Super Chopper will process various aluminium scrap at 3-5 tonnes/hour while the granulation and separation plant can process 150 tonnes/month. Electronics with a maximum Fe-size of 1,5-2 mm can be processed in the Super Chopper at 2-4 tonnes/hour, and the granulation and separation plant can process up to 2 tonnes/hour. No major adjustments or modifications are required when switching between cable recycling, aluminium recycling, and electronics recycling. When processing cable, however, the Eddy Current Separator is not used. "Thanks to ELDANs advice and answers to the questions we’ve had, we’ve been able to improve the productivity and efficiency of our process” says Rafael.

The plant is still running, but has been updated a few times since then to meet ongoing goals.

RESULTS

Alberich has been able to process the required amount of cable and aluminium as well as electronics without having to make major changes to the equipment between each type of material, and the metal purity is high - for cable up to 99,5 % pure.

Alberich has been able to measure success by:

1. Meeting expected capacity goals
2. Easily change between material types
3. Improved productivity and efficiency

Being able to process several different materials in the same plant is not only smart from a business point of view in that it saves money. By reducing the number of machines needed in a plant, the carbon footprint is also reduced since most machines have the largest emissions from production.