March 2016

Page 34 from: March 2016

34 March 2016 Investor perceptions of slowing global demand - especially in China - have driven platinum to a seven-year low, reports platinum group metal (PGM) recycler A-1 Specialised Services & Supplies. PGM prices dropped ste...

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34 March 2016

Investor perceptions of slowing global demand – especially in China

– have driven platinum to a seven-year low, reports platinum group

metal (PGM) recycler A-1 Specialised Services & Supplies. PGM prices

dropped steadily throughout 2015 with platinum, palladium and

rhodium losing, in turn, 25%, 29% and 50% of their values. The US

company is forecasting a 5% increase this year in secondary platinum

supply from autocatalyst recycling, amounting to 1.22 million ounces.

The ‘sharp depreciation’ in metal values over the past year has had a considerable
adverse effect on automotive salvage efforts as
scrap yards are less motivated to sell catalytic
converters and more willing to hold stock and
speculate on higher prices. This observation

is made in the latest market outlook from US-
based A-1 Specialised Services & Supplies, a
recycler of platinum group metals (PGMs) from
such converters.
Disappointing steel scrap prices have offered
further justification for local collectors to with-

hold material from the market, it is added.
However, smaller collectors and scrap dealers
may not be able to suspend their cash flow
indefinitely and some of them ‘have already
been burned’ by the persistent lull in the PGM
market.

New pricing norm
A-1 believes the volumes of recycled platinum
from spent catalytic converters climbed from
1.1 million ounces in 2014 to 1.15 million
ounces last year while, when making the same
comparison, palladium from salvage converters
increased from 1.8 million ounces to 1.9 million
ounces and recycled rhodium from 275 000
ounces to 288 000 ounces.
‘Should PGM prices continue to struggle
through the early months of 2016, market par-

Smaller scrap dealers ‘burnt’
by PGM market hiatus

P L A T I N U M G R O U P M E T A L S By Kirstin Linnenkoper

2016

Application: SORT
ING SYSTEMS

TOMRA Sorting’s
AUTOSORT

boosts Ecopark e
fficiency

The latest generat
ion optical sorter

– TOMRA’s AUTOSO
RT – has joined fou

existing units at th
e Toledo Ecopark w

aste sorting plant
in Spain. The new

machine is configu
red for paper and

cardboard, resulti
ng in a significant

increase

in the recovery of
these materials, t

hereby enabling th
e Ecopark to achie

ve its

recovery targets.

T
he Toledo Ecopa

rk in Spain, situa
ted at

Dehesa del Aceitu
no within the city

lim-

its, is an innovativ
e municipal solid

waste

(MSW) treatmen
t centre serving

a popula-

tion of more tha
n 650 000 inhabi

tants, with

the capability to t
reat 250 000 tonn

es of waste

per year. The Eco
park is managed

by Gestión

Medioambiental
de Toledo SA (G

esmat), a

company in whic
h Ferrovial Servic

ios España

and Consorcio d
e Servicios Públic

os Medio-

ambientales (Con
sortium of Envir

onmental

Public Services)
for Toledo prov

ince each

have a shareholdi
ng.

This plant is one
of the most adva

nced in

Spain, featuring a
high degree of au

tomation

and excellent effi
ciency in terms o

f waste uti-

lisation, prioritisi
ng recovery, biost

abilisation

and recycling ov
er disposal. Occ

upying 18

hectares, the facil
ity is engaged in t

he separa-

tion of recyclable
s, the biostabilisa

tion of the

organic fraction
and the producti

on of solid

recovered fuel. T
he most significa

nt build-

ing at the Toledo
Ecopark is the so

rting plant

where materials
are sorted in pri

mary and

secondary phase
s. In the first stag

e, the ma-

terial to be biosta
bilised is separate

d from the

remainder, which
is sent to seconda

ry sorting.

The Toledo Park t
reats to 250 000

tonnes of waste p
er year.

Application: SORT
ING SYSTEMS

Here, streams of H
DPE, PET, plastic

film, pa-

per/cardboard, T
etra-Paks, ferrou

s and non-

ferrous metals ar
e separated. In 20

14, a total

of 180 545 tonne
s of waste was pr

ocessed at

this sorting plant
, which has a feed

-in rate of

60 tonnes per ho
ur or 30 tonnes p

er hour to

each of its two lin
es.

Since going into
operation in 20

12, the

Ecopark has bee
n fitted with cu

tting-edge

technology, enab
ling optimum re

covery of

recyclable and r
ecoverable mate

rials. And

a number of TO
MRA’s automati

c sorting

systems figure am
ong the facility’s

state-of-

the-art equipmen
t. Four of TOMRA

’s AUTO-

SORT units of dif
ferent widths wer

e installed

from the outset, t
hree of the latest g

eneration,

fitted with a valve
block positionin

g system.

In line with the p
olicy to impleme

nt im-

provements to de
tection technolog

y, an AU-

TOSORT 4 was i
nstalled last year

in the flat

fraction line for
the recovery of

paper and

board. ‘The new A
UTOSORT optic

al separa-

tor was installed
in July 2014,’ no

te Ecopark

officials. ‘It is con
figured for the re

covery of

paper and board,
resulting in a sign

ificant in-

crease in the reco
very of this mate

rial at the

sorting plant.’ In
fact, the installa

tion of the

new unit will hav
e almost doubled

paper and

cardboard recove
ry by the end of 2

015 when

compared to 201
4.

Consistent high-p
urity fractions

The AUTOSOR
T is a multi-fun

ctional

sorting system d
esigned to recov

er a wide

range of mater
ials from differ

ent waste

streams, includin
g packaging, pap

er, house-

hold waste and
many types of p

lastic. The

system operates b
y combining enh

anced ma-

terial information
and colour ident

ification.

This sorting syste
m uses DUOLIN

E scan-

ning technology
, which conduct

s a double

scan on every pa
ss. Extremely fas

t and reli-

able NIR sensors
take in the specif

ic infrared

spectra of variou
s objects at a very

high opti-

cal resolution. Th
is double-scannin

g process

makes it possible
to increase the d

istance be-

tween the scanne
r unit and the con

veyer belt

while maintainin
g the high resolu

tion, thus

minimising dam
age to and contam

ination of

the optical comp
onents to signifi

cantly in-

crease reliability.
The system ensur

es consist-

ent fractions of th
e highest purity.

The latest inno
vative FLYING

BEAM

lighting technolo
gy focuses only o

n the area

of the conveyor
belt that is being

scanned,

resulting in up
to 70% energy s

avings. In

addition, this tec
hnology makes a

real-time

calibration of eve
ry single scan pos

sible, thus

increasing sortin
g stability.

Meeting targets

Use of TOMRA
’s sensor-based

sorting

technology has p
rovided numero

us advan-

tages for the Tol
edo Ecopark, esp

ecially in

terms of perform
ance, productivi

ty, profit-

ability and quali
ty of the produc

t obtained.

Having used them
in other facilities

, Gesmat’s

previous experie
nce with AUTOS

ORT units

has eased their
integration and

adaptation

from the viewpo
int of equipmen

t manage-

ment while the un
it’s configuration

flexibility

enables it to perf
orm different tas

ks accord-

ing to the requir
ements of the so

rting lines.

The Ecopark sta
tes: ‘We already

had other

TOMRA Sorting
units at the plant

so we were

familiar with the
ir technology and

reliability

– technology tha
t is enabling us to

meet our

targets and expec
tations.’

PROJECT HIGHLI
GHTS

Project
Recovery of pape

r and cardboard f
rom

municipal solid wa
ste (MSW).

Company

TOMRA Sorting Gm
bH

Operator

Toledo Ecopark M
SW treatment cen

tre

managed by Gesm
at.

Industry

Waste treatment.

Installation

2012 and July 2014
.

Main goals of the
project

Recovery of pape
r and cardboard f

rom MSW,

resulting in a sign
ificant increase in

the

recovery of these
materials.

Results
Paper and cardbo

ard recovery will
have almost

doubled by the en
d of 2015 when co

mpared to

2014 when the ma
chine went into op

eration.

Judit Jansana B
orrajo is

sales manager for
Iberia at

TOMRA Sorting Re
cycling.

www.tomra.com/r
ecycling

The new AUTOSOR
T 4 sensor-based

sorter is

configured for pa
per and cardboar

d, resulting

in a significant in
crease in the reco

very to

these materials.

The AUTOSORT op
erates by combin

ing enhanced mat
erial information

and colour identif
ication.

2016

E
veryone familiar

with today’s sta
ndard

sorting machines
will acknowledg

e that

performance is v
ery good, regard

less of

the technology. H
owever, the futur

e will re-

quire recyclers an
d processors to r

ecover yet

more material an
d to sort the end

product

more specifically
. Consequently,

the tradi-

tional thinking o
f ‘just-add-a-sort

er-to-the-

end-of-the-line’ n
eeds to change –

and fast.

Such improveme
nts to sorting pro

cedures

are the essence o
f S2S-Toratècnica

’s business

drive known as ‘S
ense2Sort’, now r

eflected in

the company’s tit
le and logo. S2S-T

oratècnica

is seeking out th
e new solutions

needed to

enable recyclers t
o match up to the

new busi-

ness environmen
t confronting th

em while

also focusing on
ever-increasing

profits for

its clients.

Highly entrepren
eurial

Among the comp
any’s clients is Sk

rotfrag

AB – a world-cl
ass metal recycle

r based in

Sweden. This pri
vate company wa

s founded

in 1972 by the hig
hly entrepreneur

ial Lars Jo-

hansson and has
grown rapidly o

ver the last

10 years such that
, today, the group

comprises

20 sites. Its three
shredder plants a

re situated

at its headquarte
rs in Gothenburg

while the

others are at Osk
arshamn on Swe

den’s east

coast and at Järna
to the south of S

tockholm.

The other 17 co
mpany sites are

traditional

scrap yards, som
e with cutting an

d pressing

facilities.
Production totall

ed 140 000 tons i
n 2011,

of which more t
han 80% was ex

ported to

Asia and elsewhe
re in Europe. Rec

ently, scrap

metal exports – e
specially to Asian

customers

– have become m
ore of a challenge

owing to

changing market
demands, barrie

rs such as

China’s Green Fe
nce and the cont

inued ma-

laise in the scrap
metal industry w

orldwide.

But through sk
illed manageme

nt, proper

planning and str
ict attention to m

arket de-

mands, Skrotfrag
has succeeded in

working

its way through t
he hurdles and fin

ancial cri-

ses to emerge stro
nger than ever.

S2S-Toratècnica
has supplied ad

vanced

sorting technolog
y to Skrotfrag for

more than

10 years. Now alo
ng with its US-ba

sed part-

New sorting oppo
rtunities in

the changing wor
ld of recycling

S2S-Toratècnica of
Spain has extensi

vely researched tr
aditional sorting p

rocedures and ide
ntified a need to r

ethink

sorting methods t
o meet emerging r

equirements and o
pportunities. In th

e future, recyclers
and processors w

ill be

asked to recover e
ver more material

– so the status qu
o will not be good

enough.

Molten sample fro
m

furnace in alumin
ium

recycling plant.

3D illustration of
S2S-Toratècnica X

RFSense.

Application: INNO
VATIVE SORTING

2016

• Ultimately,
will everythi

ng get

recycled?

• Quantifying
the resource

savings deliv
ered by recy

cling

• Stripping p
recious and

base

metals from
e-waste

• An alterna
tive approac

h to

rare earth el
ements

Recycling
Internationa

Top scientist
s share

innovations a
nd insights

Editorial: Manfred Beck
+ 31 26 3120 994
[email protected]

Advertising: Judith Wanjala
+ 31 267410200
[email protected]

2017

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