From their operation in Stoke-on-Trent, HPR specialise in creating high quality plastic feedstock materials, by sorting comingled commercial, industrial and post-consumer waste into separated polymer streams of high purity. Recycled plastics are available from HPR in a variety of formats, including bales, shred, regrind, agglomerate and compound.
Bunting Magnetics Europe Ltd designs, manufactures and supplies a wide range of metal separation solutions. The European operation headquarters is in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire.
HPR operate 24 hours a day and continues to increase capacity for both infeed and output.The design capacity of the plant is approximately 50,000 tonnes per year and presently HPR has an output of approximately 35,000 tonnes per year with the new 2nd line. This equates to around 5 tph of mixed product.
Infeed material is received from a wide variety of sources including local authority MRFs. The mixed baled material is sized with the +10mm fraction being passed under an Overband Cross Belt Magnet to remove and recover the ferrous metals. The material is then processed over an Eddy Current Separator, which removes the non-ferrous metals, and onto a series of optical sorters.
The quality of the end product and the subtle tuning of the final stage separation system is dependent on each stage of separation. Bunting worked with HPR on the primary magnetic separation stage to efficiently remove the ferrous metal.
This involved several site visits from Carlton Hicks, Bunting’s UK Sales Manager, to assess and discuss the application and potential locations for the Magnetic Separator with HPR. With experience gained from magnetic separation installations in many other recycling operations, Carlton was able to recommend the best solution in terms of the type, design and size of magnetic separator.
The main conveyor transporting the broken baled material is 1.5m wide and inclined at approx. 30 degrees. Bunting assessed the application and concluded that the optimum solution was a Twin-Pole Overband Cross Belt Magnetic Separator. Unlike single pole designs, the Twin-Pole version produces higher and stronger magnetic fields, increasing the level of ferrous metal separation.
The Overband Cross Belt Magnetic Separator is suspended across the conveyor, lifting magnetically susceptible materials such as steel cans and lids, which is then discharged to the side by a continuously revolving rubber cleated belt. The Twin-Pole Magnetic Box is designed to stretch across the whole width of the feed conveyor, with enough excess to enable the discharge of ferrous metals well away from the feed material.
Roger Evans, HPR Stoke’s Technical Director explained the reasoning behind purchasing the Bunting magnet. “Bunting was able to manufacture a bespoke solution based on their experience of the application rather than simply provide an ‘off the shelf’ solution.”