Blog / Bespoke Scrap Extraction System for Beverage Can Manufacturing
27 AUGUST 2024
Our client, a leading manufacturer of beverage cans and can
ends, has been a valued partner of integratedAIR for decades. This enduring
partnership is a testament to our commitment to their needs and continuous
development in their facility. We have consistently provided bespoke extraction
and air conveyance solutions to optimise their manufacturing process and
support their aspirational sustainability goals in aluminium recycling.
This facility has a designated baler room, ensuring all
scrap aluminium is handled in a central location to maximise efficiency.
Aluminium scrap is produced at several points across the facility and processed
by different systems depending on the size of the scrap created.
Scrap aluminium is extracted from 3 shell presses and 12
conversion presses. The shell press punches out circles of sheet aluminium from
large aluminium coils, which are used to make the can end, leaving a ‘skeleton’
of sheet aluminium as scrap material. This 'skeleton' is then carefully
extracted, processed, and prepared for recycling.
The conversion press punches out ovals from a ribbon of
sheet aluminium to make the tabs for the can ends, producing a smaller
‘skeleton’ or ‘web’ of scrap and ‘slugs’ from the centre of the tabs. The ‘web’
is extracted on a separate line from the ‘slugs’.
In addition to extracting ‘skeletons’ from these presses, we
also supplied three pick-up points across the facility for spoilt full shells;
these ensure any damaged can-ends can be collected at up to 500mm input size
and are then processed by a shredder with a max output size of 30mm at up to
1.1 tonnes of spoilt cans processed per hour. Both these ‘skeleton’ scrap types
and shredded full shells are conveyed by air through bespoke ductwork to our
scrap system; passing through an air separator, the conveying air is separated
from the aluminium scrap and directed to a BlueClean® VT Filter Unit with
ATEX-rated explosion relief venting and non-return valves to ensure compliance
with the ST-3 classification for aluminium dust.
A cyclone then processes the scrap aluminium, which passes
through a weigh hopper to the client's baler. This ensures that high-quality
aluminium bales are produced for resale and can be transformed into new
aluminium products in as little as 60 days.
The ‘slugs’ created by the conversion press are
significantly smaller in size than the ‘skeleton’ scrap and cannot be separated
from the conveying air using an air separator; these are extracted and conveyed
by air to a separate briquette system, which by-pass to the big bag filling
stations. This ensures all aluminium scrap, regardless of size, is collected
for recycling in this facility.
