Chips versus briquettes: How the aluminium industry can

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Chips versus briquettes: How the aluminium
industry can effectively and efficiently recycle scrap
For the aluminium industry, there has
long been an issue of how to recycle,
transport and / or dispose of scrap metal
and swarf (machining chips). Many in the
aluminium industry recycle their scrap
aluminium in the form of chips. These
chips can provide additional revenue
through recycling. However, there are
some challenges with recycling aluminium
chips as chips are bulky and tend to be
difficult to transport. Also, it is difficult,
if not impossible, to remove the machining coolant or lubricant, which leaves
manufacturers with wet and oily chips.
Recyclers often will not accept wet chips,
or will charge a fine.
Companies throughout Europe, and
now in North America, have discovered
a new way to process aluminium scrap:
briquetting. Briquetting offers an efficient
and effective way to recycle aluminium
scrap, and it also solves many of the common problems that arise from recycling
aluminium in the form of chips. Briquettes are consistent in shape, size and
weight, and so they are easy to stack and
transport, besides having other advantages that will be addressed later in this
article.
What is briquetting?
At its most basic level, briquetting is a process that compresses metal scrap and swarf
into compact, easy-to-manage round blocks
(briquettes) with densities and resale values
that rival those of massive metals. Briquet-
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ALUMINIUM · 1-2/2013
© Ruf
G. Tucholski, Ruf US
Aluminium briquette and chips
ting has been used for more than 50 years,
but its technology and benefits have evolved
greatly over the years. For example, old-style
briquetting machines were big, loud and had
high-maintenance costs.
Today, briquetting systems made by companies like Ruf are just the opposite. Our briquetting systems are engineered specifically
to run reliably and efficiently, and to deliver
the same or better production rates while using
less horsepower.
ditional revenue and / or savings (especially
when it is mostly oil), or it can be disposed
of safely and more easily. There are two big
advantages to being able to remove the coolant or oil:
First, it allows the manufacturer to do the
recycling in-house instead of having to go
through a third party, which reduces costs.
Second, when a manufacturer sells chips that
still have coolant and oil on them, the manufacturer will be penalised. Transporting wet
chips also creates a potential problem – it is
The benefits for the aluminium industry
As the technology and performance of briquetting have advanced, so
have the potential benefits that
it holds for the aluminium industry. Briquetting boosts the
bottom lines by adding value
to the waste stream. There are
three main advantages of briquetting for manufacturers:
The melting factor: The biggest advantage of briquetting
aluminium is that briquettes
melt better than loose chips.
Comparing the same weight of briquettes
versus chips, briquettes will produce more
aluminium after being melted. Chips tend
to burn, whereas briquettes melt more like a
solid. This is the main reason smelters use briquettes instead of chips – they are going to get
more metal out of their bath than if they were
using chips. When the process is complete,
more material is recovered with briquettes,
which means more revenue.
Removing coolant or oil: Through the briquetting process, coolant or oil lubricant that
saturates aluminium drains out more easily.
This liquid can then either be recycled for ad-
Briquettes are consistent in shape, size and weight,
therefore easy to stack and transport
hazardous if the oil or coolant drips onto the
road during transport, so extra precautions
and steps must be taken. This penalty, along
with the liability of transporting wet chips, can
really add up.
Space, transportation and storage: When
dealing with chips, there have always been issues with storage and transportation because
chips are loose, take up much more space
and cannot be stacked or contained neatly.
Briquetting solves all of these problems. Briquettes are stackable, which makes them easy
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techn o l o gy
to transport and store.
Additionally, the density of
briquettes helps during transport. Briquettes weigh about
120 pounds per cubic foot (about
2,000 kg/m3) whereas chips weigh
only about 15 pounds per cubic
foot (about 250 kg/m3). The cost
savings for transporting briquettes
alone tends to justify manufacturers’ purchase of a briquetter.
Briquetting in action: how
briquetting helps global
manufacturer of training
ammunition to squeeze
value from its scrap
Ultimate Training Munitions
(UTM) makes high-performance
training ammunition and safety
systems that allow armed forces
and law enforcement agencies in
the US and around the world to
conduct safe and effective Close
Quarter Battle (CQB) training Ruf briquetter
exercises. Headquartered in the
United Kingdom, UTM also has production find the right briquetting solution for its opfacilities in the United States as well as a global erations.
sales network operating in 45 countries.
According to Wagner, this included briIn UTM’s US factory, ten machines work quetting test batches of UTM’s scrap, and then
in 60,000 square feet of space to create train- sending the briquettes to an independent lab
ing ammunition, weapon conversion kits, and to test their moisture content to ensure that
safety system equipment. During production, Ruf’s technology would meet the company’s
tonnes of turnings are created as the precision needs. “Our moisture content threshold for
munitions and system components are turned getting optimum return for our chips is 2%.
and finished using a high-speed aluminium With Ruf briquettes, our chips contain only 1.1
turning processes. Because copious amounts to 1.8% moisture. This drastically improves
of oil are required to keep the aluminium lu- our chip resale revenues – by about 50 cents
bricated as it is turned, the turnings produced per pound.”
are so saturated with oil that they are practiSince deploying its Ruf briquetter, UTM
cally worthless. This created a problem for has grown scrap revenue by 250% and is also
UTM because it was forced to dispose of these able to filter and reuse the processing oil it
oily, messy turnings as best it could – tempo- reclaims as the scrap is compressed during
rarily storing them as waste in hoppers, where the briquetting process. Wagner says that his
oil could be partially drained before the turn- company’s Ruf briquetter paid for itself in
ings were sold for next to nothing to scrap less than six months. Overall, the efficiency of
processors.
UTM’s operations has risen with streamlined
Coming across Ruf Briquetting at an in- scrap processing, and because scrap drainage
ternational manufacturing technology trade hoppers are no longer needed, UTM was able
show, UTM’s plant manager saw the potential to save 20% of its valuable floor space. Its
for briquetting as a way to tackle his plant’s factory is cleaner, and as a result its employees
chip disposal problem. After making a visit are safer.
to Ruf’s German production facility to gain
As illustrated by UTM’s results, briquetting
a ground-up understanding of its innovative solves many potential problems and increases
briquetting technology and systems, UTM be- revenue for manufacturers dealing with alugan working with Ruf’s team in the US. UTM’s minium. Briquettes melt at a higher yield than
Ralf Wagner says that Ruf was a pleasure to chips. Chips are less dense and have a relawork with every step of the way, and was tively larger surface area, so that they tend to
willing to do “whatever it took” to help UTM burn or oxidise during the melting process.
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Briquettes melt more like compact metal, so
the manufacturer sees a recycling price closer
to that of recycling compact aluminium.
Additionally, the coolant or oil recovery
during the briquetting process cuts costs. Wet
chips are too dangerous to mix with molten
metal. If a manufacturer is using oil as a lubricant, the oil savings and recovery alone will
usually pay for a briquetter. Thirdly, briquetting saves time and space for manufacturers,
while also making transportation easier and
more cost efficient.
As briquetting becomes more common
throughout North America and beyond, its
benefits to manufacturers will continue to
grow as well.
About Ruf
Located near Cleveland in North Olmstead,
Ohio, Ruf is the North American subsidiary
of Ruf GmbH & Co. KG in Germany – a global pioneer of advanced briquetting systems
for more than 40 years. The quality and performance of its briquetting systems are proven
worldwide with more than 3,000 machines
currently in operation.
Author
Greg Tucholski is with Ruf US, based in North Olm­
stead, Ohio, USA.
ALUMINIUM · 1-2/2013