Case Studies

Waste management specialist The Niramax Group, has overhauled its alternative fuel production line with the switch to new shredding technology. The move is expected to boost capacity for the Hartlepool-headquartered organisation, by as much as 30% per year.

Previously operating a high-speed system to transform pre-sorted commercial and industrial waste into a refined SRF for use in combined heat and power plants, the Niramax development team was encountering repeated problems with machine damage, unplanned downtime and excessive wear costs.

Keen to boost the reliability, throughput and profitability of the plant, Niramax has therefore re-evaluated the marketplace and made the switch to an UNTHA XR3000 mobil-e with new XC cutting configuration. The purchase of the energy-efficient machine follows a successful trial on the Hartlepool site, where operators put the XR to the test using their own materials.

Despite the varying and often challenging nature of the input waste, the shredder was able to achieve a homogenous, onspecification <80mm SRF at a continued rate of 30 tonnes per hour. With in-built foreign object protection mechanisms, the shredder came to a stop – safely and without causing machine damage – so that any unshreddables could be safely ejected.

Now fully operational, the UNTHA SRF shredder is expected to achieve fuel consumption savings of up to 40%. Supplied on rubber tracks with integrated discharge conveyor and crossbelt magnet, it boasts a quick-change cutting system which provides maximum flexibility should Niramax wish to vary their in-feed processes or output specifications.

We soon learned that UNTHA’s clever foreign object design feature protects our operators as they don’t need to ‘enter’ the machine at any point to investigate the issue. Our machine is protected from excessive wear and potentially costly damage too. At the same time, we’re safeguarding the quality of our fuel and maintaining consistent throughputs, which means we can deliver clients’ expectations with ease, and further boost the capacity of our site.

Metal recycling operations around the globe are continually looking for technology that will help them maximise their materials liberation efforts. To achieve greater yield from their line, Schaufler turned to UNTHA…

Austrian-headquartered metal separation, processing and recycling specialist Schaufler has invested in a new machine from fellow native brand UNTHA shredding technology, as the business looks to boost the efficiency of its scrap handling operation in 2020 and beyond.

The Ybbs an der Donau-based company is no stranger to ferrous and non-ferrous materials, having operated in the metals market since 1948. The 120-strong team handles copper, aluminium, zinc and stainless steel from scrap dealers, industry, municipal associations and private households, before collecting, sorting, shredding and selling the valuable recyclates to smelting works across Europe.

A world-renowned UNTHA XR3000C was first trialled back in March 2019, using Schaufler’s own materials. Impressed with the equipment’s high throughputs and low wear rate, the organisation has since invested in an XR shredder of its own. The UNTHA Eco Drive concept within the XR also lowers energy consumption by 75% compared to standard electrohydraulic drive options

In UNTHA, we have finally found a partner who took our wishes into account and provided targeted, solution-orientated support. We have been particularly impressed with the energy efficiency of the machine and would highly recommend both the unit and the supplier.

Some complex projects don’t always go 100% right first time. But, thanks to the knowledge and tenacity of the UNTHA UK team, WEEE recycling specialist Altech now has a comprehensive shredding system which has maximised recyclate recovery and revenue. 

Altech Trading Company is a WEEE (Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment) recycling specialist with more than 30 years’ industry experience. Predominantly handling redundant telecoms infrastructure and IT devices ranging from servers to circuit boards, Altech’s secure facility in Southend-on-Sea provides a turnkey WEEE recycling service, from collection to disposal.

The company’s focus is to ensure legislative and environmental compliance for utmost peace of mind for clients. Typically processing 2,500 tonnes of WEEE per year, Altech also works hard to maximise recycling rates for optimum sustainability and revenue yield.

Acknowledging the value of the composite materials found within waste electronic equipment, Altech had sought to mechanically break down some its WEEE streams, to liberate the high-worth recyclates inside. In conjunction with the manual stripping of high-grade units, this approach would also enable the sorting and segregation of varied material types, to aid onward recycling.

Altech’s first machine investment was a second-hand hammer mill. However, when up and running, it soon showed its limitations. Further marketplace research therefore brought the team to UNTHA.

Renowned for engineering robust shredding technology that can handle complex applications with ease, Altech was particularly interested in the high torque, slow speed design of UNTHA’s four
shaft machines. It seemed that the precision cutters and screen would achieve a more refined shred than if the WEEE was simply shattered with the hammer.

Although several brands were assessed during the research phase, UNTHA’s pitch impressed Altech and the RS100 was installed soon after.

On the basis of the requirements outlined during initial discussions, UNTHA’s Austrian headquarters specified what it deemed was the best-fit blade configuration for Altech’s complex WEEE application. But as the albeit heavy duty shredder processed the varied and complex waste streams, the cutters became far less effective after 400 hours.

UNTHA’s WEEE shredding specialists therefore visited the site to re-evaluate the machine set-up. A new cutter configuration was devised and installed and, more than 12 months later, the blades were still in successful operation.

Now, Altech has a comprehensive WEEE shredding system in place which feeds the downstream segregation equipment with a high quality, homogenous fraction that can be separated with ease. Devices ranging from modems and servers to computer towers and telecoms modules are all processed in the RS100, at a rate of up to 1.5 tonnes per hour.

The machine’s capacity would allow for greater throughputs but with a keen eye on quality, Altech is keen to not overwhelm the next-step kit within the plant. The particle size can be adjusted according to the particular screen configuration utilised at any given time. When the WEEE fraction exits the discharge conveyor, it then travels through a series of sophisticated equipment including an overband magnet to remove ferrous metals, an eddy current separator to remove the circuit boards from non-ferrous materials and an optical sorter to finally clean anything that the ECS hasn’t already separated.

High quality material streams are then sent for recycling, with steel and aluminium handled in the UK for example and precious metals refined in Germany.

Whilst this project was far from straightforward, I am delighted that we now have a sophisticated, easy-touse shredding system in place that has improved our recyclate recovery rates and presented us with new business opportunities. We’re now processing WEEE that would have been uneconomic to handle without this UNTHA shredder on hand, which means more projects, reduced costs and greater revenue yield.

When Biogen’s AD operations were rapidly expanding in the UK, the food waste specialist turned to UNTHA for shredding technology to support their growing business…

Biogen is the UK’s largest operator of food waste anaerobic digestion (AD) plants. The organisation takes organic materials from food manufacturers, retailers, pubs, restaurants, hotels, offices and homes (via local authorities) and processes them to create:

• Biogas, which is fed into a Combined Heat and Power unit to produce renewable electricity for the national grid.

• A pasteurised PAS110-certified digestate, which is returned to the agricultural industry as a biofertiliser to grow crops.

The robust RS40s also provides a much-needed defence mechanism – they have no problem dealing with contaminants such as metals, which protects the rest of Biogen’s plant and ensures there are no unwanted foreign objects in the AD feedstock. Throughputs depend on the feedstock but the solution typically processes 8 tonnes/per hour, on average.

Whilst the RS40 is not necessarily the cheapest machine on the market, it does this difficult job very well. What’s more, it is an incredibly cost-effective machine in terms of ongoing running costs and spare parts, and its productivity and uptime means it is a value-adding tool for our business.

Only three months since the official opening of Fortress Recycling and Resource Management’s new £5m facility in Warwick, the team had successfully processed 6250 tonnes of ‘waste’, thanks to an UNTHA XR3000C shredder at the front-end of a sophisticated processing line.

Fortress’ Dry Mixed Recyclables plant – designed and supplied by Blue Southern – hit the headlines when it was first unveiled. It was clear that significant investment and some clever thinking had brought this site to life.

Constructed in a building measuring just 730sqm and 6.5m high at the eaves, the facility had some challenging objectives to meet from the outset, if it was to effectively tackle the paper, cardboard, glass, plastics and aluminium cans passing through.

The Fortress team trialled the mobile version of the XR3000C when it embarked on its UK roadshow later that year, before placing an order in January 2017.

Currently configured to process 9 tonnes of DMR an hour, 10 hours per day, 5 days a week, the XR is in fact capable of achieving a 30 tph capacity, with the flexibility to shred different input materials ranging from MSW to C&I and other bulky wastes.

Most modern business investments are made with at least one eye on ‘what’s next’. So, the knowledge that we are future-proofed with this shredder – thanks to its ability to produce a refined RDF or even high quality SRF should we want to – offers important peace of mind at this crucial expansion point for our firm.

Oxfordshire-based M&M Waste Solutions is no stranger to the resource sector. But as it started to look ahead to the next half a century, M&M sought to further boost its approach to recycling – not to mention its material recovery rate…

With a history spanning coal distribution and skip hire, M&M is a 46-year-old business that has more recently expanded into end-to-end waste collection, management and treatment, at the firm’s Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) and Waste Transfer Station in Cassington. Now handling 150,000 tonnes of materials each year, this is a significant milestone for the organisation.

With a proven track record of boosting clients’ yield – as well as “ their recyclate quality – UNTHA led M&M through a number of shredder trials. It became clear that a four shaft RS100 shredder could comprehensively tackle the variety of materials generated at M&M’s plant.

The UNTHA shredder can produce a range of outputs depending on the material-specific liberation strategy deployed. However, M&M can now achieve a <25mm homogenous particle size, which – when handling certain materials – satisfies confidential waste shredding requirements in line with GDPR security shredding requirements.

Many of the complex materials that we’re handling – particularly from the construction and demolition industry – contain valuable composite parts that we need to ‘free’ to further boost our recycling rates. The RS100 therefore enables us to size-reduce, liberate and produce a saleable finished product for remanufacturing.

Britain’s Bravest Manufacturing Company has invested in a new pallet shredder from UNTHA UK, to enhance the team’s production of materials for the biomass industry.

Established in 1919, BBMC – the social enterprise of charity Royal British Legion Industries – has long strived to support the lives of ex-service personnel. However, as the years have passed, the Aylesford-based company has gone on to also provide employment opportunities to non-veterans including people with disabilities and those out of work. More than 100 such individuals staff a £5m turnover factory, one of five divisions within the registered RBLI charity.

A new UNTHA LR1400 has just been commissioned within this factory. Having previously used a second-hand machine from a different manufacturer, the organisation’s incumbent technology was unreliable, and repeated breakdowns were putting a strain on the workflow.

Now processing up to 15 tonnes of waste timber per week, UNTHA’s single shaft LR1400 shredder is top-loaded via a forklift before producing a homogenous 50mm fraction. An overband magnet extracts any metals for reinsertion into the recycling stream, with the resulting product supplied to Jenkinsons for the biomass market.

UNTHA stood out clearly as an industry leader. A consultation with one of UNTHA’s wood shredding experts – plus a visit to see the LR1400 in action – convinced us this was the machine for us.

Construction and commercial waste management specialist Rabbit Waste Management Ltd has more than halved the energy required to power its shredding line, resulting in cost savings of approximately £60,000 per year.

Rabbit Waste Management is no stranger to waste shredding. The skip hire firm diverts 75,000 tonnes of locally-collected C&I, C&D and wood waste from landfill each year, in favour of manufacturing an alternative fuel used to run its own 5MW Waste to Energy Enviropower plant.

The team previously used a diesel-driven mobile shredder to process infeed materials, but when this high-speed technology failed, the hunt for a safer, more environmentally-sound and profitable replacement began.

Rabbit commissioned the UNTHA XR3000C mobil-e shredder in November 2017, in a bid to lower the level of dust, fines, fire risk and noise of its waste processing operation. But the 60% reduced energy consumption has also resulted in significant financial benefits for the Sussex-based business, not to mention a much smaller net environmental impact.

The level of dust has fallen by approximately 50%, the creation of non-specification fines has dropped by 20%, and the shredder’s electric drive coupled with in-built fire protection technology, means the risk of a major incident is drastically reduced.

With 60% less energy consumption, equating to around £60,000 per year, the XR’s impact on our ‘green’ agenda – not to mention our bottom line – is vast.