The new enhancement automatically tightens belts and minimizes maintenance requirements.
Prab Inc., a manufacturer of equipment and systems for processing metal scrap that is based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, has released the Auto-Take Up System as a conveyor enhancement that automatically tightens belts and eliminates the need for manual adjustments.
As chains on conveyance systems age, they stretch, which is one of the most common causes of premature belt wear and unplanned conveyor maintenance. According to a news release from Prab Inc., a stretched chain can cause the belt to slip off of the sprocket and fold up under itself, leading to belt damage, stopped production and downtime.
To prevent a belt failure, operators have traditionally performed manual belt adjustments, which require the machine to be shut off while an operator crawls into a pit underneath the press to check the belt’s tension and tighten it with a wrench. Prab says this type of maintenance typically needs to be repeated twice a year.
To prevent these maintenance concerns, Prab reports that its Auto-Take Up enhancement monitors tension using load cells on chain conveyors, including steel belt conveyors, drag conveyors and the Prab ScrapVeyor. The system is wired to a PLC control panel, which monitors tension and automatically tightens the belt to eliminate the need for manual adjustments and downtime.
Prab says the enhancement can be added to new conveyors or retrofitted onto existing models. If retrofitted onto an existing conveyor, the system can be operated using that conveyor’s original control panel. Automatic adjustments can be scheduled to be completed during low production times or shift changes.
“Manual belt tightening increases downtime for preventive maintenance and, if not addressed properly, risks a belt failure that can damage the conveyor,” says Mike Hook, sales and marketing director at Prab. “The Auto-Take Up eliminates the need for manual belt adjustments for improved conveyor uptime.”
U.K.-based scrap firm says freight rail in that nation and in the U.S. is keeping trucks off the road.
United Kingdom-based scrap recycling firm EMR Ltd. says it is working to meet its net-zero carbon emissions target by 2040 and cites its use of rail shipping as a “great example of some of the benefits that decarbonizing our operations can bring.”
In the U.K., EMR says it works closely with its rail freight partners “to move materials to our deep-sea docks as well as to [U.K.] customers where possible.”
The company continues, “We use two sets of railway wagons [gondola cars] that are known as MBAs (or monster boxes). Each set includes 18 wagons with an individual capacity of 84 cubic meters (110 cubic yards) and a potential payload of 72 metric tons. This means that each train EMR runs has a carrying capacity of around 1,300 metric tons.”
Moving the same amount of material by road would take 40 trucks, according to EMR, which adds that each train equates to less road traffic, less congestion at its own yards and a decline in use of truck scales which means “faster service for customers who deliver their scrap to us.”
In the U.K., EMR says it sends out trains six to seven times per week from yards in Sheffield, Birmingham or Swindon, with many going to the firm’s Liverpool docks to be exported around the world. Rail-connected mills and foundries in the U.K. also can have material delivered to their operations.
EMR also operates scrap yards in the United States. The company says its shredder yard in Becker, Minnesota, includes a new $2.5 million rail line to enable the firm to send out prepared scrap to mills throughout the U.S., cutting the number of trucks needed to transfer material long distances there as well.
As EMR and its partners look to cut carbon emissions out of their supply chains, switching to rail provides significant benefits, says the company.
DB Cargo, a Germany-based rail service provider with operations in the U.K., provides regular sustainability reports to EMR, says the recycler. “It has calculated that [the] carbon footprint of rail freight is significantly less than road, and DB Cargo suggests EMR is saving around 8,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions thanks to the use of its rail freight services.”
Citing freight rail as an area of its operations it is “keen to invest in,” EMR says is increasing the number of trains it will operate in the U.K. to up to nine per week.
EMR says rail is not yet a fully net-zero emissions method of transport, but “as technology progresses in the years ahead, we hope the arrival of hydrogen-powered trains and a decarbonized electricity supply for our rail networks will ensure that, by 2040, our use of rail is entirely carbon neutral.”
Steelmakers in South America have surpassed pre-COVID-19 output levels.
South American steelmakers produced 26.4 million metric tons of steel in the first seven months of 2021, representing a 26.3 percent increase compared with the same time frame in 2020, when COVID-19 restrictions were widely in force.
Brazil, the continent’s leading steelmaker, has demonstrated a similar pattern of increased output, despite its status as one of the most COVID-wracked nations in South America. Despite its health woes, steelmakers in Brazil produced 22 more steel in the first seven months of 2021 compared with the same period in 2020.
The 3 million metric tons of steel produced in Brazil this July represents a 22 percent increase from the 2.45 million metric tons produced in July 2019, before COVID-19 began its economic ripple effects.
In South America overall, the 3.8 million metric tons of output this July represents an 18 percent increase compared with the 3.22 million metric tons made in July 2019.
The resurgence of the steel sector has been accompanied by announced furnace restarts and capacity expansions from steelmakers in Latin America.
In early June, Mexico-based steelmaker SIMEC disclosed that it plans to double the capacity at its scrap-fed electric arc furnace (EAF) rebar mill in Pindamonhangaba, Brazil. S&P Global Platts, citing a Simec announcement, reported the EAF mill there will expand from capacity of 500,000 metric tons per year to 1 million metric tons.
The plant, operated by the GV do Brasil Simec subsidiary, produces “rebar and rebar coils,” according to S&P. Some $300 million will be invested by Simec to install new EAF technology and a new rolling mill.
In late April, Brazil-based Gerdau announced its intention to restart an EAF mill in Guaíra, Brazil, in the second half of this year because of “the positive scenario for steel demand” in the region.
In neighboring Peru, EAF steelmaker Aceros Arequipa in April announced signing a contract with Germany-based SMS Group for a new vacuum tank degasser to its mill in Pisco, Peru.
The degasser will be integrated into an already delivered SMS Group melt shop and enable the Peruvian steelmaker to widen its production in terms of quantity and quality, according to SMS.
Aceros Arequipa also made a move to strengthen its access to North American ferrous scrap feedstock. In July, the company agreed to purchase an auto shredder yard in Florida formerly operated by Topsham, Maine-based Grimmel Industries.
At the time of that purchase, Aceros Arequipa Strategic Sourcing Manager Diego Arróspide Benavides told Recycling Today, “The new furnace requires almost 400,000 tons per year or more, so we must assure the volume." He added that “100 percent of the ferrous scrap will be shipped to Pisco" from Florida.
The FB1200 is designed for basic applications using analog bench scales or floor scales.
Fairbanks Scales Inc., Overland Park, Kansas, has released the FB1200 industrial scale instrument, designed for basic applications using analog bench scales, floor scales, tank assemblies or livestock scales.
Fairbanks Scales says the FB1200 is a flexible, economical solution for basic industrial weighing applications and features digital inputs and outputs that simplify its integration with other aspects of an operation.
The simple, seven-key interface has oversized buttons for Power, Units, Zero, B/G Net, Tare and Print and a single function key to access the more advanced features of the instrument. In addition, while many industrial applications do not require legal-for-trade status from their weighing equipment, the FB1200 is approved for 10,000 divisions by NTEP and Measurement Canada (MC). This allows the FB1200 to provide legal-for-trade weights when required.
In addition to simple weighing operations, the FB1200 has feature sets to address the following types of operation, including accumulating gross weight, net weight and piece count values over repeated weighments and three-zone checkweighing to confirm a weight is within an acceptable range.
Fairbanks says the FB1200 expands its ability to address customer needs by including digital inputs and outputs and multiple weighing intervals while significantly decreasing the time needed to install and service industrial instruments.
The three new members are from companies that produce virgin plastics.
Plastic feedstock management company Cyclyx International, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, has added three new members to its executive advisory board (EAB): Ron Abbott of Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem), Ricardo Cuetos of INEOS Styrolution America LLC and Ganesh Nagarajan of LyondellBasell.
Abbott is sustainability technology manager at CPChem, where he is responsible for developing the technology required to advance long-term global sustainability objectives, including leading CPChem’s advanced recycling program.
Cuetos is the vice president of Standard Products Americas at INEOS Styrolution America and has more than 25 years of experience in the plastics and petrochemical industries across North America, Asia Pacific and Latin America.
Nagarajan is the associate director for polymer business development and projects at LyondellBasell and is responsible for developing circular economy initiatives, strategy and partnerships for North America. He also represents LyondellBasell at the Alliance to End Plastic Waste as part of the regional task force in North America and Thematic Expert Groups. Nagarajan has more than 25 years’ experience with expertise in sustainability, business management, marketing, sales, product development, mergers and acquisitions and capital projects including international experience in India, Asia, Australia and South America.