Separation system

Ad Rem has built the largest separation system for Stena Recycling, separating non-ferrous metals from shredder waste.

Client

Stena Recycling

Stena Recycling in Halmstad (Sweden) strives to find the most efficient method to achieve the highest value from shredder waste and to increase the share that can be reused as new raw materials.

Challenge

The European ELV Directive (End of Life Vehicle) wants to guarantee that 95% of ELVs are recycled. A minimum of 85% of true recycling and a maximum of 10% of thermal recovery (energy generation through combustion).

Solution

Ad Rem deals with this challenge by separating and purifying fractions. Ad Rem has built a large separation system, separating non-ferrous metals and plastics from shredder waste. The system has an annual capacity of 150,000 metric tons of material and can be expanded to 225,000 metric tons. The footprint of the system is 80 x 100 meters. This means that it is the largest in the world! In a first phase, fines (0-4 mm) are screened out. The light fraction (foam rubber and textile) is then separated from the heavy fraction by air separation.

At the heart of the innovative technology is the dense medium separation. First the plastics from the non-ferrous metals are density separated. Next, magnesium is removed and then comes the last and most important step: The separation of aluminium from heavy metals.

'With our system, Stena will recycle about 22,500 metric tons of aluminium on an annual basis, which at least represents a reduction in CO2 emissions of 200,000 metric tons.'

Result

Aluminium recycling uses 95% less energy and produces 95% less greenhouse gases than the production of primary aluminium. Recycling 1 metric ton of aluminium means that emissions of 8 metric tons of CO2 can be prevented. 22,500 metric tons of aluminium will be recycled annually by Stena, which represents a reduction of 200,000 metric tons of CO2 or the annual emission of 42,000 passenger cars per year.

Why Valtech Group?

We succeeded in completing this project with Ad Rem thanks to the financial support from Valtech Group and the extra engineers from our sister companies.