Copper and brass granule production since 1999

Mixed brass scrap, including taps, plumbing fittings and household items, often contains rubber, plastic, iron, ceramics and circuit boards. This material cannot be sold as received or effectively sorted by hand. A shredder reduces it to pieces no larger than 120 mm, releasing the brass from the other materials. Eddy-current separation and X-ray fluorescence sorting then recover clean brass.

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   Material after shredding

   The shredded material, with pieces no larger than 120 mm, travels by conveyor to the next sorting stage. The brass has been released from the other materials but has not yet been sorted.

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   Eddy-current separation

   The conveyor feeds material to a rapidly rotating magnetic rotor at the end of the belt. The rotor induces eddy currents in non-ferrous metals such as brass, copper and aluminium. Their magnetic fields repel the metal pieces, propelling them further from the belt. Non-metallic materials such as plastic, rubber and ceramics fall directly below, separating metals from non-metals.

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   XRF-T sorting: clean brass

   The XRF-T sorter combines two X-ray technologies. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) identifies the chemical composition of each metal piece, while X-ray transmission (T) determines its density. Precise air jets separate the brass pieces, producing clean, shredded brass ready for sale.

At Metalekspo's copper cable recycling line, cables are shredded and a magnet removes iron from the material stream. A granulator then separates the copper from its insulation. Separation produces clean copper granules and a separate plastic fraction, both of which are sent for further recycling.

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   Cable shredding

   Cables are shredded and fed along a vibrating trough to the next processing stage.

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   Magnetic separation

   A belt conveyor carries the shredded material beneath an overband magnetic separator, which removes the iron-containing (ferromagnetic) fraction from the stream.

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   Feeding the granulator

   Once the iron has been removed, the material travels by conveyor to the granulator. It is reduced to smaller particles so that the copper separates fully from its insulation.

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   Recovered copper granules

   After separation from the insulation, clean copper granules are ready for further recycling and melting.

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   Separated cable insulation

   The shredded plastic insulation remaining after copper separation is collected separately and sent for further recycling.