Lead the pack with Zato’s Blue Devil

If you are in the scrap metal recycling business, you work with twin shaft shredders or rotary shears, then you may well have come across the term ‘Zato Grade’ scrap.

Zato Grade scrap is a loose dense scrap which is largely free from dust, dirt and impurities, is easy to melt and commands a premium price as it is highly valued by steel mills and foundries. Zato grade is produced by the Twin shaft rotary shear known as “The Blue Devil” a rotary shear that is immediately recognised by those in the know and has come to define the genre.  

The Blue Devil is the signature shredder in Zato´s product portfolio with over 150 machines sold worldwide. Far from being the only twin shaft shredder on the market, Zato´s remarkable and rapid success has a lot to do with how our customers rate it: “Reliable, sturdy, high output, efficient and virtually maintenance free”.

From yard to mill

Blue Devil’s customers range from humble scrap metal recycling yards right up to mega steel mills. An increasing number of steel mills, especially EAF or Electric Arc Furnaces are committed to fulfilling the requirements of creating a circular economy and scrap processed with a Zato Blue Devil helps them to achieve these lofty goals.

With 60 individual rotating blades the Blue Devil generates a dense but loose sheared scrap that is 99% free of contaminants and uses less far less energy to melt than bales or shear baler processed scrap. Mixing Zato grade scrap with other grades ensures that furnace loading buckets are 100% full.

A guardian angel

When used to pre-shred scrap, the Blue Devil becomes a guardian angel for hammer mills. Not only does it prevent dangerous and costly explosions by neutralising compressed natural gas cylinders, scrap car fuel tanks or any other pressurised cylinders but it will also filter out any unshreddables before they get to the hammer mill.

The low speed, no impact high toque blades safely cut open pressurised vessels without the risk of explosions. Hammer mills which are fed with Blue Devil pre shredded scrap will increase their `Tons per hour´ output by around 40%.

Furthermore, power peaks are eliminated there by reducing total power consumption by around 20% while significantly increasing the life of expensive ware parts such as hammers, grids and plates.

Adding a Blue Devil pre-shredder upstream of a hammer allows mill operators to extract the full potential from their shredders while reducing costs, downtime and maintenance. Traditional toothed pre-shredders or “package openers”, which can only pre shred cars or bales can let potentially explosive items and unshredables fall between their teeth unprocessed.

The 60 counter rotating blades of a Blue Devil will effectively pre-process all scrap including coils, reenforcing wire and rebar. 

Advantages:

• The low-speed high torque shafts generate a powerful shredding force with no impact and minimal fines generation.
• No costly foundations or civil works are required for the installation.
• Worldwide delivery and installation are fast and problem free thanks to entrusted experts.
• Machine operating costs are exceptionally low compared with a hammer mill.
• High hourly production rates (25-35 t/h) which allows for fast turnaround times to take advantage of favourable market conditions.
• Runs autonomously, no independent operator required.
• All electrical and hydraulic components are protected from the elements by our inhouse manufactured container.
• With at least three machines in production on any given month, comprehensive spare parts are always available.