Freedom of Choice

Liberty Iron & Metal LLC, based in Erie, Pa., is a full-service scrap yard that handles ferrous, nonferrous, nickel alloys and stainless steel. Established in 1932, Liberty has grown to become one of the largest and most sophisticated scrap processors and brokers in the Western Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio region. With its extensive array of equipment, Liberty is capable of processing in excess of 60,000 tons of material every month.

In July of 2007, Liberty Iron formed a joint venture with Scholz AG of Essingen, Germany. Scholz is one of Europe’s largest privately held steel and scrap metal recycling companies.

Today, Liberty owns and operates full-service scrap processing facilities in Buffalo and Rochester, N.Y.; Sharon, Pa.; Girard, Ohio; and Phoenix. Liberty and Scholz will continue to pursue strategic investments and growth opportunities in North America, according to managers of the two firms.

Marc Olgin, one of Liberty’s owners, is proud of the equipment the company maintains, some of which is unique to the area. He says, "We are the only processor in Northwestern Pennsylvania to have a 2,500-horsepower automobile shredder."

Olgin says Liberty’s commitment to quality is a major contributing factor to its longevity and success. "All materials are passed through our radiation detection equipment and adhere to strict quality-control standards," he says. "Our on-site testing laboratory allows us to verify product quality, detailing chemical analysis of the finished product. In addition, we have two portable spectrometers that can be transported to a job site for on-the-spot analysis," Olgin adds.

Another component in the company’s success is its willingness to upgrade or purchase new equipment when needed.

Joe Plumadore, operations manager at Liberty, says the company had been in the market for a metal sorter for the past several years. However, Plumadore had some reservations about such a purchase.

"I did not like the metal sorter air requirements, the expense, maintenance and freeze-ups in the winter," Plumadore says.

Liberty wanted the capability the machinery would bring, but the potential issues such a sorter could create made the company less enthusiastic about such a purchase.

At the time, Liberty did not believe a successful airless metal sorter existed. So, in July 2006, the company purchased an 80-inch wide metal sorter that employed air in the separation process.

"We were forced to go with the air-type metal sorter at the time. A good airless metal sorter was just not available," Plumadore says. "We were happy with the air unit, but the recovered nonferrous metals were very dirty."

Plumadore also likes to run his Erie shredding plant as an in-line or synchronized system, so when the sorter would have downtime, it affected Liberty’s overall operation.

Plumadore continued to seek out a proven and reliable airless sorter that would free Liberty from the problems it faced with the unit it initially installed. He says Liberty liked the idea of an airless metal sorter, but he was not convinced of a history of successful operations with a model that was available, so Liberty was unsure it was the right solution.

Then, Liberty learned something that increased its interest and alleviated its apprehension in airless sorting technology: Locally-based Eriez, a leading manufacturer of magnetic, vibratory and inspection equipment, was interested in further refining and offering a motorized paddle separator.

"We knew that Eriez had the expertise and resources to make it work," Plumadore says. He says Liberty trusted Eriez because it uses other Eriez equipment and is consistently pleased with the company’s service, quality and performance.

Early meetings with Eriez President and CEO Tim Shuttleworth and Chairman of the Board Richard Merwin reinforced Liberty’s confidence.

Likewise, the team from Eriez was convinced that working with Liberty would ultimately help make its products better. "We have some of the best operations talent in the country right here in Erie, Pa., at Liberty Iron & Metal, so we have been able to tap into each other’s knowledge," says Al Gedgaudas, Eriez recycling product manager.

Eriez was certain that it could develop a successful and sophisticated product. Shuttleworth says, "We knew we could design a product that would offer in a metal sorter that businesses like Liberty need."

In the fall of 2006, Eriez installed a 26-inch wide ProSort airless metal sorter prototype for field-testing at Liberty.

"The goal was to prove performance and help determine further design improvements for subsequent units," says Gedgaudas. "Our hope for the machine was that it would clean up the nonferrous metal recovered from the air sorter, while offering all the benefits an airless sorter provides."

Eriez installed the unit at Liberty’s Erie yard outside in the elements, with only a small metal roof over it. Plumadore says Liberty planned to run the prototype sorter unrelentingly.

"We decided to run it until it died," he says. "But it didn’t die. The machine ran and ran. It ran in gritty wind, rain, sleet, snow and ice. It kept running."

In fact, the 26-inch prototype machine operated in excess of eight months and was only removed to make room for a larger, 84-inch machine that Liberty ordered after seeing firsthand the performance and results the prototype offered.

"We finally had an airless metal sorter that could offer clean nonferrous recovered metals," Plumadore says. "We ordered an 84-inch unit and continued to utilize the prototype unit while we awaited its arrival."

Plumadore says the new unit arrived at Liberty June 15, 2007, at 10:30 a.m. It was not long before the new unit was operating. "It was installed and wired by 4 p.m. that day. The next day, the conveyors and walkways were put in. It was incredibly quick and easy to install," he says.

"The machines are designed to be easy to install, so yards can get them up and running quickly," Gedgaudas says.

By June 18, 2007, Liberty was running product on the machine.

The ProSort runs as part of the synchronized system along with eddy current separators and Bivitec shaker screens. The post-shredder stream is split into two parallel streams, each with an eddy and a Bivitec, with the streams coming back together to introduce material to the ProSort.

"Liberty is impressed with the Eriez ProSort," Plumadore says. "We have put in a side conveyor to run potential customer truckload samples across the machine. Those interested can visit Liberty to test their product."

Eriez says it believes customers who are familiar with air-type sorters will be surprised by what the ProSort offers, as it includes numerous features and benefits not found with traditional air separators.

By the numbers, Liberty managers point to March 2008 operations as a typical month. In that month, the FinesSort pulled out some 260,000 pounds of ferrous metal and more than 230,000 pounds of nonferrous metal from Liberty’s post-shredder materials stream.

The ProSort, meanwhile, pulled out more than 180,000 pounds of saleable metallic units.

With production like that, the two Eriez units have quickly paid for themselves, according to Plumadore and his colleague Barry Rider. In addition to extracting additional metal at a time of record-high prices, they estimate that Liberty is sending some 10 fewer truckloads per month of ASR (auto shredder residue) to the local landfill.

"It’s a shame how much used to go to the landfill, but the technology wasn’t there," says Plumadore.

All that has now changed at Liberty’s Erie location, and the group is keen on implementing the same technology at the shredder plants it is building in Phoenix and in Girard, notes Rider.

"With all the metal we have grabbed with the ProSort and the FinesSort that used to go to the landfill, these machines were paid for in six months—even a little less than six months," says Plumadore.

Recycling facilities that use metal sorting machines typically install them downstream of eddy current separators to capture valuable metals that might otherwise end up in a landfill. Shredded automobiles, white goods and other scrap move over a vibratory feeder onto a conveyor belt traveling at approximately 500 feet (152.4 meters) per minute. Sensors under the belt then detect pieces of metal traveling above and trigger air jets to blow the metal over a splitter, while the rest of the material falls off the end of the belt.

Operators often find that a constant, large volume of clean, dry air is expensive as well as a major headache, because air compressors in the range of 125 horsepower or larger are required to furnish the high volume of air necessary for these systems.

The new Eriez ProSort Metal Sorter, however, employs a series of 2-inch wide "electromagnetic motorized paddles" instead of traditional air nozzles to eject metals.

These paddles are positioned side by side in a bank as wide as the conveyor belt, so when the sensors detect a piece of metal on the belt, the control circuit energizes the appropriate paddle at the moment the metal passes above, causing it to be diverted from the product stream.

Greg Nowak, Eriez technical director, says, "Providing the industry with reliable equipment, from the paddle design to the electronics, was one of our primary goals during the development of the ProSort." Nowak adds, "We have tested the paddles and the electronics in our research and development test lab in excess of 70 million cycles in various environments to ensure reliable operation in the field."

The Eriez ProSort is designed to provide a cleaner production facility and cleaner metal product compared to traditional units that employ air because the compressed air has more influence on the light fluff and dust than it has on the heavier metal it is attempting to move. On the other hand, the ProSort’s mechanical paddles positively displace metals without blowing fluff into the metals and dust into the air.

Both Eriez and Liberty say they see considerable potential for the ProSort in the metals recycling industry.

"This product has a great future," Liberty’s Olgin says. "It costs less to buy, less to install, less to operate and has less maintenance. ProSort’s operational costs are only about 25 percent of a similar sized air sorter."

Eriez also has the benefit of having a global presence. "Eriez has 10 manufacturing plants around the globe," Shuttleworth says. "Because of this, we can furnish airless metal sorters around the globe."

Shuttleworth says although Eriez’ global reach is important, it’s nice to do business close to home as well.

"Eriez and Liberty, two local American companies, have teamed up to make the airless metal sorter a success," Shuttleworth adds.

This text was submitted on behalf of Eriez Magnetics, Erie, Pa. More information is available at www.eriez.com.