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TECHNOLOGY EXPERT

Panizzolo hammer mills make a big difference

metal. ‘The operating heart is the Panizzolo
recycling plant that is essential for grinding
and reducing the material to a perfect size for
downstream sorting equipment.’
The entrepreneur maintains that Panizzolo
hammer mills have certain aspects that only
someone working with them every day can
grasp. ‘Certain precautions arise only through
direct experience. For example, take the rotor,
the grinding chamber and above all the cradle
inserted in the mills. These are all pluses that
Panizzolo has always been able to transform
on the systems it designs and sells.’
The new Mega 1500 will be used as a rough-
ing machine, preparing the material for the
Flex 1300 Mobile. ‘Our experience in material
processing taught us many things, the most
important of which is that a quality output
product needs the right processing steps,’
Pensotti says. ‘There are no machines that can
do everything in one step, whether they are
processing bulky scrap or electric cables. They
don’t exist because in the end you lose both
productivity and quality’.
At the new location, Pensotti’s team are confi-
dent of increasing the flow of incoming scrap.
From an average of 2 000 tonnes per month
today, the flow is expected to grow to around
5 000 tonnes. ‘We have no doubt that we can
count on the Mega 1500 and Flex 1300 Mobile
to ensure productivity of at least 350 tonnes
per day,’ the businessman states.
He expects as little as possible to go to land-
fill. In the last two years, partly because of
changes in China’s import rules, the cost of
transfer has increased fivefold. ‘Landfills are
closing and will be completely replaced by
waste-to-energy plants in the coming years,’
Pensotti says. ‘Currently, all the waste that
Com.Steel produces from Panizzolo recycling
plants must all be transferred to waste-to-
energy plants. The latter generates energy and
heat, so let’s feed a virtuous cycle.’

Ecofuturo is a young family-run industrial
company. Located halfway between Lisbon
and Porto, it specialises in the refining of
electric motors and smaller end-of-life elec-
tronics.
‘Through direct experience I’ve understood
that the best investment is in the complete
enhancement of the copper granulate from
electric motors and small WEEE,’ says compa-
ny owner Guilherme Pina. ‘I carefully analysed
what the European market offered and found
Italian companies to be very well prepared in
this field.’ The final choice fell on the refining
technology of Panizzolo Recycling Systems as
it immediately struck Pina to be the most suit-
able for achieving his production and quality
objectives.
‘Visiting Panizzolo, I particularly appreciated
the transparency, honesty and experience of
Mauro Panizzolo and his colleagues,’ Pina
recalls. ‘The company is growing thanks to its
direct experience in scrap grinding, learning
every day from its grinding processes and
developing the treatment and refining cycles
in their plant near Padua. I identify with Mauro
a lot as I find that he has an edge over those
who, without any experience, have only the
goal of selling you their product.
‘Before Panizzolo came along, our refining
cycle was based on a Chinese plant which
caused us major limitations and problems,’ the
businessman laments. As an example, he says
pre-ground material from electric motors had
to be processed over and over again, discard-
ing many metals before reaching the final out-
put.
The production ratio between pre-grinding
and refining was very low, about 200-300 kg
per hour with long periods of storage for both
incoming and outgoing material. ‘Not to men-
tion any delays due to the turbine being
blocked,’ he adds. ‘Typically, a percentage of
steel, aluminium and iron increased the abnor-

mal wear on the blades and caused them to
break.’
Today the compact refining plant allows Pina
and his team to avoid such problems. ‘The
refiner hammer mill does not fear even the
heaviest metals so in a single step I recover
and maximise the quality of the metals, saving
time, effort and operators involved,’ he says.
‘We are currently still bringing the plant to
production capacity but we have already
exceeded expectations and we are certain to
achieve almost one tonne per hour of pro-
cessed material. Obviously everything will
depend on the type of material we decide to
work with,’ Pina points out. The compact refin-
ing plant will allow the recycler to expand fur-
ther the range of treated waste, refining all the
types of fluff that are difficult to locate in both
Portugal and Spain.
‘Even today we are building our experience
with a treatment cycle, knowing that Panizzolo
provides a professional remote consulting ser-
vice,’ Pina concludes. ‘At the same time I
encourage my partners to build on their own
experience, an element that will distinguish us
in the national market.’

Company: ECOFUTURO in Portugal
Owner: GUILHERME PINA
Installed: Compact Refining Plant (with patented granulator)

COMPANY: COM.STEEL SPA in Italy
OWNER: ANDREA PENSOTTI
Installed: MEGA 1500 stationary hammer mill

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