Browsing by Author "Santos, R. Novais"
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- ELV recycling steps up a gear: development of improved sorting technologies for the non-ferrous fraction of auto-shreddersPublication . Nogueira, Carlos; Pedrosa, Fátima; Margarido, F.; Santos, R. Novais; Durão, F.; Guimarães, C.Although the number of end of life vehicles (ELVs) needing recycling is growing, due to processing limitations aluminium recycling rates are being hindered. A European-funded project - ShredderSort - aims to contribute to new solutions to the aluminium recycling industry. More than 10 million tons of automotive waste from end of life vehicles (ELV) are generated yearly in the EU and the values are continuously increasing. ELV wastes are managed by the auto-shredder plants which process ELVs through a series of mechanical and physical operations in order to separate the materials into different streams: ferrous, non-ferrous, heavy non-metal and fluff. Ferrous materials, constituting more than 60wt% (percentage by weight), are sent to steel-making plants, while the non-ferrous (NF) fraction, rich in aluminium and representing slightly less than 10wt%, is processed to separate some alloys.
- Separation of non-ferrous frations of shredded end-of-life vehicles for valorising its alloysPublication . Margarido, F.; Santos, R. Novais; Durão, F.; Guimarães, C.; Nogueira, Carlos; Oliveira, Paula; Pedrosa, Fátima; Gonçalves, Ana MariaWorldwide the end-of-life vehicles (ELV) generate millions of tons of waste, requiring an adequate and efficient management. The non-ferrous fraction contains essentially aluminium, magnesium and copper alloys, being valorised by metallurgical processors to obtain new metals and alloys. However most of the recovered metals are downcycled, as is the case of aluminium where the recycled products are essentially used to produce less purity casting alloys. New or improved separation technologies are therefore necessary in order to allow an accurate separation of alloys or alloy groups, increasing the value of the non-ferrous streams. In this paper, the composition of the non-ferrous fractions of ELV shredders are assessed with particular relevance for the aluminium and magnesium alloys. Essentially, the main cast and wrought alloys are characterized and their markets and applications are discussed. Based on waste composition, several physical separation and sorting technologies can be applied to improve the products quality, which are here depicted and discussed. Physical processing includes operations such as eddy current and heavy media separations. For sorting alloys contained in the non-ferrous stream, other sensor-based technologies are being developed, such as electromagnetic sensing and novel laser induced breakdown spectroscopy systems, constituting an important contribution for boosting the non-ferrous metals recycling rates.
- The role of automated sorting in the recovery of aluminium alloys wastePublication . Nogueira, Carlos; Trancoso, Maria Ascensão; Pedrosa, Fátima; Crujeira, Teresa; Oliveira, Paula; Gonçalves, Ana Maria; Margarido, F.; Santos, R. Novais; Durão, F.; Guimarães, C.A large number of aluminium alloys with varying alloying elements are present in vehicle structures and components, as well as in other household equipment. The recycling of these alloys is nowadays processed to low quality metal products due to high level of contamination, hindering the upgrading of recycling rates. The development and application of automated sorting technologies capable to detect, select and separate different alloy types could be of crucial importance in the progression of the recycling loop. This paper addresses the importance of sorting based on a study on the characterization of Al alloys in non-ferrous fraction of shredder plants.