Recycling generates approximately $87 billion in economic impacts and is responsible for 500K jobs, according to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries. The majority of these recycling facilities have to sort through the waste in order to process the material - one of the most effective and efficient ways to do this is by using eddy current belts.
Eddy current separator belts are used to separate nonferrous materials, those that don’t contain significant quantities of iron, from other waste. This separation is achieved by using powerful magnets to repel the nonferrous material. This occurrence is similar to putting two magnets together that have the same poles, causing them to push away from one another, rather than connect. Repelling the material causes the nonferrous metals to be thrown from the waste that is being separated, upon being thrown the waste and nonferrous materials are separated into two separate take away conveyors.
Separators are typically the last step in a larger conveyor configuration. The majority of ferrous material is removed before entering the eddy current separator. Ferrous material can reduce the life of the belt, as well as damage the eddy current rotor drive.
Eddy current separator belts can be found in numerous recycling applications such as auto shredding, electronics recycling, plastic recycling, glass recycling, foundries, wood recycling, and medical waste recycling. These systems allow separation facilities to increase productivity by eliminating human error sometimes seen in hand sorting operations.
Apache can build a custom conveyor belt to suit applications utilizing the eddy current process. We have 30+ years of experience fabricating eddy current belts for a large cross section of systems, including a wide variety of rubber or urethane sidewalls, vanner edges, and cleat profiles.
Some of our most popular eddy current belts are:
Eddy current belting can be found on the below separator manufacturer's equipment:
- Dings Co. Magnetic Group
- Eriez Magnetics
- Global Equipment Marketing Inc./Magnetics Division
- Huron Valley Steel Coporation
- Hustler Conveyor Company
- Machinex Industries, Inc.
- Magnetic Products, Inc.
- Metso Lindemann
- MSS, Inc.
- SGM Magnetics
- Steinert
- Wendt Corporation
One of our eddy current belts in use at a recycling facility.
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By Andrew Weisenstine, Product Specialist - Durowall & Fabrication