Stages of sorbent production

1. Pre-preparation of refrigerators under a tent, where we strip the appliances of:

• glass,
• gaskets,
• we remove transparent elements,
• we empty the refrigerator of residue

The refrigerator is then put on a conveyor and goes to the refrigerator line to the robot station.

2 Robot Station:

• Analyzing the gas in the refrigerator foam: the robot punctures each refrigerator with a pneumatically controlled nail and sucks out the gas that is in the foam in the refrigerator housing. It does three tests: for one door, for the other door and from the top.
• If all three tests are positive, it means that there is pentane in the refrigerator. Such a refrigerator goes to the next conveyor, where it is transported for further processing.

3 Gas extraction station:

• extraction of gas and oil from the compressor system by means of suction drills (The ATN Refrigarant Oil Recovery System), where the oil is separated from the gas,
• the oil goes to a dedicated tank and the gas goes to a pressure tank, where it is stored.

4 Manual disassembly of the chiller:

The refrigerator in the next step goes via a roller conveyor to the station, where the aggregate is cut off using hydraulic shears.

5 The process of grinding and initial separation of materials:

•  The refrigerators, with the help of an elevator, go to an airlock, which prevents gas leakage, to go in the next step to a four-shaft shredder, which grinds them into pieces of up to 40 mm. With the help of a screw conveyor, the shredded refrigerator parts reach the densimeter table, which allows further separation of the material. From above the feeder, with the help of suction cups, the foam is extracted, which goes to a buffer tank located outside the building.
•  The second magnetic belt separator collects ferrous elements from above the densimetric table and then, using a conveyor belt, transports them outside the building directly to a dedicated container.
•  The remaining shredded material: plastics, mixed aluminum, pieces of non-ferrous metals go to another RS50 four-shaft shredder, where it is shredded into fractions of up to 20 mm, which in the final stage go to a ZIG-ZAG air separator. Here the remaining polyurethane foam and dust are extracted.

6 High gradient separator:

•  The shredded fraction goes to the magnetic drum separator, where stainless steel components are taken away.
•  On the eddy current separator, plastics are separated from non-ferrous metals. The materials go into dedicated containers.

7 Our Innovation:

•  During the grinding of refrigerator and foam, pentane gas is emitted, which we extract from the sealed chamber of the shredder, then the filtered gas goes to the furnace outside, where it is burned.
•  Thanks to the heat exchanger, we can obtain energy from the heated gases.
•  The heat thus generated can be used in other technological processes.

8 Sorbent line:

From the buffer tank via screw conveyors, the foam goes to the regranulate line. First to the pre-compactor, where it is lightly crushed using two rollers, then it goes to the screw, which distributes it to four mills.
The crushed foam goes to a double-deck stagger screen, where three fractions are obtained:

•  the supernatant fraction goes to the mill for re-milling,
•  the whitewater fraction goes to the alternative fuel,
•  the inter-site fraction of 0.125 to 0.4 mm goes to a buffer tank, from which it is filled with the help of a bagger to become a full-fledged Re-Absorbet Oil sorbent.

For the safety of the process, foam grinding is carried out under a nitrogen atmosphere.
Our main goal for the processing of electro-waste at the plant is to maximize the recovery of the various types of re-sorbents, which, due to their high purity, are sent to smelters and manufacturing plants, where they are reused as production material.

In the case of the sorbent line, a full-fledged product is created – Re-Absorbent Oil sorbent for collecting oil and oil-based pollutants from solid surfaces and from water surfaces.

Thus, we reduce waste and promote sustainable, environmentally responsible practices in accordance with EU guidelines.