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At any recycling processing plant, the machines that are used the most are usually the compactors. These devices are an essential part of the process and are essential for handling large quantities of scrap metal. They are capable of reducing nearly any material down to a manageable size, including copper, tin, brass, iron and steel. These machines accomplish this using powerful rams that compress loose material into firm blocks. Once this is done, the blocks can be transported to storage or to further processing.
There are a few varieties of compactors, though car crushers and scrap metal crushers are the most common at recycling centers. They operate using the same principles. Both function with a slow-moving ram driven by a high-torque motor. The ram smashes the car or scrap material against a crushing surface several times before the scrap is shaped into a firm brick. Some machines perform pre-crushing duties, which is useful for handling light materials or items with large air pockets. Some car crushers pre-crush vehicles by compressing the hood of the car with a powerful rotary drum. These devices can handle more than just metal, though. They can crush glass, cardboard, plastics and anything else a processing center may need to deal with. Recycling centers usually install large crushers for its purposes, but these machines come in a range of sizes. They may be small enough to wheel around or large enough to compress hundreds of gallons of waste at once. The strongest models can exert more than 140,000 pounds of pressure per square inch.
Compactors are primarily used to reduce material volume. Some are designed to reduce volume by a factor of 2 to 1, while some can reduce material volume by as much as 20 to 1. This is done by destroying the item’s “memory,” or its propensity to retain its natural state. It also eliminates any internal air pockets, ensuring an extremely dense mass of material. Some models come with bar grates that run along the bottom of the crusher. A bar grate is a series of channeled grooves built into the bottom of the machine. These grooves allow cutting and waste liquids to escape during compression and also keep small pieces of scrap from escaping. Larger models have removable containers to prevent waste runoff.
These machines are extremely important to the recycling process because they make raw material easier to handle. Compactors leave the scrap in tidy blocks that can be picked up by cranes or magnetic lifts and ferried to furnaces for melting down. Recycling plants that don’t have a lot of space can also save a lot of space by crushing scrap and storing it for later processing.
Companies that manufacture and install compactors are normally willing to visit a processing center that needs one. A representative from the business can calculate the center’s needs and find a machine that will work best with their system. This ensures the plant doesn’t waste any money on a larger than necessary model.
With a powerful crusher in operation, a recycling plant can shape tons of metal every day and get it ready for consumers once again.
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