ZB hammermill gamechanger at Louisiana yard

Manufactured by Spain’s ZB Group, the THOR-1616-K hammermill, has impressed scrap metal recyclers around the globe. One of them is Chad Smith, owner of Jena Metals in Louisiana, USA.

The 1616-K hammermill is the smallest of the ZB’s THOR series but don’t let that fool you. It has been engineered to solve the problem that many scrapyards worldwide have with pre-shredder scrap: a lack of density and cleanliness. US recycler Chad Smith has been running Jena Metals in Louisiana for 13 years.

He, like many others, operates a family owned recycling business, which is in its second generation. The company processes around 1 000 tonnes of various types of scrap per month.

Adding value

Smith has gone through a natural process during his years leading the business, including the realisation that he needed to add value to the material in his yard. This prompted him to invest in equipment. Among the numerous options in the market, he decided to acquire a twinshaft shredder.

At the beginning, he was able to process material and add value to his product but, after a short time, he realised it was not the most effective way to do so. After trying to upgrade his light steel scrap using a twin-shaft shredder for about three years, he concluded the output material did not reach market premium standards with respect to cleanliness and density.

‘We were getting a lot of pushback from the mills,’ he says. ‘They were quite reluctant to purchase the material processed by the twin-shaft.’ Smith needed a solution tailored to a company of his size that would allow him to upgrade his pre-shredded material. ‘I researched a lot online and, after watching all the THOR videos on YouTube, I was sure that I needed to reach out to ZB Group.”

Mobile shredder pioneer

ZB Group is based in the green hills above San Sebastian in Spain’s Basque country. The recycling equipment producer has more than 40 years of experience in designing and manufacturing crushing and shredding equipment. It was the first company to offer a mobile hammermill shredder, introducing the first unit into the North American market in 2013.

Smith contacted ZB Group, which also is a family owned and operated business, for more information. From the beginning, he says, communicating with and understanding the ZB Group’s team was easy and fluent with both firms being on the same page.

‘As soon as you start talking with them, you realise they are an honest company willing to help you from the beginning.’

Productivity up

‘Changing to a hammermill was a scary leap for us; these are significant investments for an owner-operator,’ Smith continues. ‘But it has been a game-changer for us. Productivity and density have gone up, wear and tear in the twin shaft has gone down, and we are getting a significant premium from the market as we are able to market our material as shred rather than HMS heavy melting steel.

‘Most significant of all, we are now able to recover the non-ferrous metals and that’s the true goal of shredding, isn’t it? Once you see how quick the return on the investment is and the amount of money you were giving away before, you regret not making this move earlier.’

Troubles service

Based on his previous experiences with overseas manufacturers, Smith said he originally had serious concerns about the level of after-sales service he would get. ‘Who doesn’t have or know of someone that has had a nightmarish service experience with an overseas company?’ he asks.

However, given that ZB Group has a spare parts warehouse and service team in Atlanta, Georgia and the feedback he heard from existing customers, that concern was all but gone.

‘Having a local service team and spare parts stock was key for us. Our experience so far has been great. Both service teams, the one in ZB Group’s headquarters and the one in Atlanta, are very involved and have responded to our questions in a timely manner.’

Solid investment

What has surprised the recycler most is that he did not think he would be able to get into shredding with his size of company. ‘We are conditioned to think that to get into the shredding business you have to have thousands of tonnes, and US$ 20-30 million (EUR 18-28 million) to invest.

The units that ZB produces make a beautiful product that delivers materials the mills love at a fraction of the investment.’

Smith notes that ‘for a little bit over US$ 1 million’, the THOR-1616-K is a cost-effective and accessible way for small and medium yards like ours to bridge the gap between the preshredded material produced by the twin-shaft shredders and the shredded ferrous scrap that steel mills seek.’

The shredder has allowed Smith’s company to process 20 tonnes per hour of pre-shredded material to achieve densities of nearly 340 kg/m². ‘We decided to go with smaller grates to get a premium density and better liberation when processing irony-aluminium,’ he says.

His company can at last efficiently and quickly convert and ship the material. ‘I’d recommend others in similar situations to contact ZB Group,’ Smith concludes, based on his experience. ‘It is the smart option if you are processing HMS through your twin-shaft and you are not getting the finished product you and your customers want.