Mapping and development of shredding product stream(s). Four shredding plants in Sweden

H.R. Manouchehri

In order to develop the shredding product streams for better recycling and having sustainable development and in connection with the pervious report on shredding plant facilities titled “Looking at shredding plant configuration and its performance for developing shredding product stream- An overview”, four shredding plant facilities; i.e., halmstad, halstahammar, huddinge owned by Stena Gotthard AB, and Skelleftehamn owned by Kuusakoski, were visited and mapped. This report is prepared with to discuss about these shredding plants and the related issues.

Within first part of the report different aspects such as steel recycling and energy, recycled material for iron and steel production, material construction for different obsoletes, etc., are reviewed and studied in details in order to define their roles in recycling schema. In addition a general perspective for the recycling costs is presented and it is shown how recycling cost is affected by a factor named “Product factor”, which is a function of product complexity and product size.

In the second part, the flow-sheet for the visited recycling plants are drawn and discussed in details in order to see their similarities and discrepancies as well as their functions for recycling different metals.

Within third part, two main strategic scenarios are addressed for optimum recycling of ELVs, obsolete appliances, and other wastes. Accordingly, improvements in dismantling, shredding, and separation stages are needed to increase the quality and quantity of recycled materials, especially in order to obtain the needs for iron and steel industries when concerning environmental issues. The recycling scheme must be then provided by considering the interrelationship among dismantling, shredding, and separation facilities and the material characteristics of the wastes.