The company’s rotary magnetic separators feature different fields for different applications.
Newton, Kansas-based Bunting, which manufactures several varieties of rotary magnetic separators, says these devices are designed with either an axial or radial magnetic field based on a customer’s separation objective.
Axial magnetic fields stretch across the width of a rotary magnetic separator, according to the company. When magnetically susceptible material enters the field, it is attracted to the point of highest magnetic intensity—known as the pole—but then, the motion of the conveyor or drum drags the material through a weaker area of field located between the two poles before it eventually settles onto another pole.
An axial magnetic field is ideal in situations where the magnetic separator may have captured a high level of entrapped nonmagnetic material, Bunting says. Because of the motion between the poles, nonmagnetic material will be released as the magnetic item “tumbles” in the field. The downside of this type of magnetic field is that there is the potential for reduced separation performance, the company adds.
An axial magnetic field is best for applications where the separation objective is to maximize the purity of the recovered ferrous metal, such as an auto recycling application where the purity of ferrous material recovered is essential in determining its resale value. However, recovery rates for ferrous metals may be slightly lower, according to the magnet manufacturer.
Bunting products that can feature axial magnetic fields include permanent drum magnets, electro drum magnets and pulley magnets.
In a radial magnetic field, poles are running in the same direction that the conveyor or drum is rotating. They follow the flow of the material, according to the manufacturer. Magnetically susceptible material will be attracted to the poles, which are the highest points of magnetic intensity, and held there until it is dragged out of the magnetic field.
A radial magnetic field is ideal when the goal is to maximize the amount of magnetic metal separated from other material, the company says. However, a radial magnetic field potentially can entrap nonmagnetic material, which then reduces the purity of the recovered metal that is separated.
Magnetic separators with radial magnetic field design are typically found in applications such as recovering magnetic minerals in mineral processing and also applications such as removing ferrous metals in certain recycling applications.
Bunting products featuring the radial magnetic field design include drum magnets, pulley magnets, rare earth roll separators and induced magnetic roll separators.
When deciding on the type of magnetic field to use in a specific application, a number of key factors should be considered:
For metal recycling operations, an axial magnetic field produces cleaner ferrous metal but results in a lower recovery rate because some ferrous can fall out with the nonferrous material, Bunting says. A radial magnetic field produces more ferrous metal that is less clean because some nonferrous material is removed along with the ferrous.
Pilot facility will manufactuer Cellufoam, which the company says is a renewable, recyclable alternative to oil-based polymer foams.
Stora Enso, headquartered in Helsinki, will build a pilot facility to produce Cellufoam, which it describes as “a lightweight, fiber-based foam material for protective packaging and cushioning.” The company says bio-based foams are renewable and recyclable and can be used in packaging, replacing oil-based polymer foams. The pilot plant will be at Stora Enso’s Fors mill in Sweden.
The initial target application for Cellufoam will be the protective packaging of fragile products, for example in consumer electronics, Stora Enso says. Bio-based foams also have the potential to replace polymeric foams in a range of markets and applications where the demand for sustainable materials is increasing, such as sports equipment, thermal insulation in shipments and as a growth medium in soil-free farming, among other areas.
“The interest in sustainable packaging solutions is already large and continuously growing,” says Markus Mannström, executive vice president of Stora Enso’s Biomaterials division. “Companies are looking for bio-based materials in order to achieve their own environmental goals for recycling, reducing plastic waste and using fossil-free materials while maintaining high-quality packaging performance. Our bio-based foam offers a renewable, recyclable and biodegradable alternative to traditional oil-based packaging foams, such as expanded polyethylene (EPE) and expanded polystyrene (EPS). With this pilot, we continue to build on our long-term R&D work while introducing innovative materials to replace fossil-based ones,” he adds.
Stora Enso says its pilot aims to evaluate and validate Cellufoam as a packaging foam in customer tests and to further develop the production process. The new pilot plant will be part of Stora Enso’s Biomaterials division and its design and engineering will start immediately. It is estimated that the plant will be ready in the fourth quarter of 2021. The company adds that decisions about commercialization will follow, after evaluating the results of the pilot-scale production.
Stora Enso’s Fors mill produces lightweight paperboard for consumer packaging. The company says the pilot plant investment will not impact the mill’s current production.
Global beverage firm says nearly 90 percent of its packaging is recyclable.
Global beverage maker Keurig Dr. Pepper (KDP), as part of its 2019 Corporate Responsibility Report, says it is on track to achieve its goals of 100 percent recyclable or compostable packaging and 30 percent plastic post-consumer resin (PCR) content by 2025.
“The momentum against our ‘Drink Well. Do Good.’ efforts in 2019, our first calendar year operating as one Keurig Dr. Pepper team, reflects the central role corporate responsibility has at our company,” says Monique Oxender, chief sustainability officer of the firm, which maintains dual headquarters offices in Burlington, Massachusetts and Plano, Texas.
Adds Oxender, “We made progress against all our areas of focus, including reducing packaging waste and increasing circularity of our products, with 87 percent of packaging now recyclable and 20 percent made with PCR content.”
Further on the recycling front, KDP says currently, 95 percent of the company’s K-Cup pods can now be considered recyclable, and all will attain that status by the end of 2020.
KDP also points to the 2019 launch of the $100 million Every Bottle Back initiative with the American Beverage Association and industry peers to improve recycling infrastructure and support consumer education as a sustainability highlight.
The company also refers to itself as a founding sponsor and the largest funder of The Recycling Partnership’s Polypropylene Recycling Coalition, an effort to increase and improve the recyclability of polypropylene (PP), the primary material in K-Cup pods and Mott’s applesauce cups, according to KDP.
Beyond recycling, KDP says its sustainability-related activities included reducing greenhouse gas emissions “throughout the value chain” and engaging activities to improve the lives of people and households within its supply chain, and the communities in which they live and work.
U.S.-based packaging firm also will collaborate with London-based plastic scrap-to-oils company.
Global packaging provider Sealed Air Corp., Charlotte, North Carolina, says it has signed a collaboration agreement with Plastic Energy, a firm that converts plastic scrap into oils that can be used to make new plastic. Additionally, Sealed Air has made an equity investment in Plastic Energy Global, the London-based parent company of Plastic Energy.
Plastic Energy Global was established in 2012 with the goal of creating facilities that convert discarded plastic into energy products. The company has two operations in Spain and is developing projects in other parts of Western Europe and in Asia.
The firm says it has a “vision” to operate 50 new facilities by the end of this decade and a goal of processing 300,000 metric tons of plastic scrap by 2025.
“We’re excited to join forces with Plastic Energy to innovate faster and accelerate the development of new technology that eliminates waste and ensures a circular economy for plastics,” says Ted Doheny, Sealed Air’s president and CEO. “This collaboration will help us meet our 2025 sustainability pledge and lead the way in transforming our industry.”
Comments Carlos Monreal, founder and CEO of Plastic Energy, “We are delighted to start this new strategic collaboration with Sealed Air, which will lead to the acceleration of development of the advanced recycling industry as well as provide a circular solution for more and more plastics.”
Plastic Energy says its technology transforms post-consumer plastic scrap into recycled-content oil that “can be used to create essential packaging solutions, including protective packaging for food, thereby enabling plastic to become a new resource.”
In 2018, Sealed Air announced a sustainability and plastics commitment, pledging to design and advance packaging solutions that are 100 percent recyclable or reusable by 2025. As part of the pledge, the company has a target of 50 percent average recycled content in its packaging products, with 60 percent of that coming from post-consumer recycled materials.
In 2019, Sealed Air also announced it had joined the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, a global non-profit effort designed to facilitate investments in plastic recycling.
Sealed Air makes several types of packaging, including pouches, bags and cartons for food and other perishable products.
Nation’s EAF mills are reporting healthy rebar sales, scrap demand; Vietnamese mills also in the market.
While steel output in the United States slowly recovers from its COVID-19-related impacts, electric arc furnace (EAF) steel mills in Turkey, Vietnam and elsewhere look poised to put some upward price pressure on the U.S. ferrous scrap market.
Figures for July 2020 collected by the Brussels-based World Steel Association show steel output in Turkey rose by 7.4 percent compared with the July 2019 figure, and year to date the nation’s output has declined by just 2.4 percent. Vietnam is another scrap importing nation exhibiting healthy steel production in 2020, with the nation’s mills showing an 8.4 percent increase in year-to-date output.
Information gathered by London-based Kallanish Commodities indicates that in mid- and late August, Turkish mills and their buying agents have been active in the North American, European and Russian scrap markets, seeking scrap feedstock.
The Turkish rebar mills have been selling their output not only to their typical domestic and Middle East customers but also to buyers as far away as Hong Kong and Singapore, according to Kallanish.
The full order books of the Turkish mills have resulted in August purchases of heavy melting steel (HMS) shipments from exporters in Russia, Poland and the U.S.
According to Kallanish, one buyer in Turkey paid $287.50 per metric ton CFR (cost and freight) for the U.S. shipment. The early August Fastmarkets AMM U.S. East Coast Export Index price was $260 per metric ton.
Turkish sources contacted by Kallanish referred to expectations of a double-digit number of additional bulk vessel scrap purchases in September, and that U.S. sellers already are asking “higher prices” than the $287.50 figure.
Kallanish also is reporting upward price pressure in the East Asia market, though much of that activity pertains to Vietnamese and Japanese mills competing for Japanese ferrous scrap.
However, the commodity news service says Vietnamese EAF mills are buying bulk cargoes in August, paying up to $310 CFR for Australian HMS scrap and $301 for a bulk shipment from the U.S. Bids for containerized ferrous scrap are lower, says Kallanish, with Vietnamese mills paying between $260 and $270 per metric ton for containerized HMS scrap from the U.S.