Metals

Recent news from the various sectors of the recycling industry

BASF boosts precious metals recycling capabilities

BASF Corp., headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, has completed the installation and startup of new equipment at its Seneca, South Carolina, precious metals recycling operation. The company says the expansion will more than double the plant’s production capacity.

The Seneca site serves as BASF’s global production hub for recycling end-of-life automotive and chemical catalysts, allowing for the recovery and recycling of platinum group metals (PGMs).

An operator at the Seneca, South Carolina, site recycles precious metals from scrapped catalytic converters. The site serves as BASF’s global production hub for the recycling of end-of-life automotive and chemical catalysts, allowing for the recovery and recycling of the precious metals contained inside.

“Our investment in this high-performance equipment allows us to increase precious metals recycling at the Seneca site to meet growing market demand,” says David Freidinger, BASF vice president, precious metals recycling and refining. “This also supports our strategy to offer superior quality in our recycling services.”

Automotive catalytic converters are one of the largest industrial applications for PGMs, accounting for more than half of the world’s annual mining output, the company says. When a catalytic converter is scrapped, BASF says the precious metals contained inside can be recycled, creating a sustainable secondary supply source for such limited global resources.

BASF is a global manufacturer of precious metal products that are used in a variety of industrial applications, including automotive catalytic converters.

BASF Corp. is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has more than 17,500 employees in North America and had sales of $16.2 billion in 2016.

La Farga and Danieli sign agreement

La Farga, the Spanish copper recycling company, says it has signed an agreement with the Italian company Danieli, which specializes in manufacturing equipment and plants for the ferrous metals industry. The agreement is designed to bolster the sale of La Farga’s technology and leadership in the field of copper and its alloys.

May 31, 2017, La Farga signed the agreement with Danieli to reinforce one of its strategic initiatives—the sale of its technology. To date, La Farga has transferred its technology and knowledge to more than 30 plants worldwide, the company says.

Seated, from left: Alessandro Trivillin, co-CEO of Danieli, and Oriol Guixà, CEO and president of La Farga.

The agreement allows both companies to strengthen their competitiveness and their global positioning, La Farga adds.

Inka Guixà, La Farga managing director, says, “With the signing of this agreement, La Farga will offer a new service in the copper plant market, transferring its know-how, its technological process and its experience at the hands of a highly trained team with extensive experience worldwide.”

The company, headed by Oriol Guixà, says it will accompany new clients in this line of business in implementing its technology and launching into the market.

“By signing this agreement, the copper market has acquired a new reliable partner: Danieli & Co. Officine Meccaniche Spa, together with La Farga,” Danieli says. “Two companies with full knowledge of technology, the world’s copper and the refining process.”

Amlon acquires stake in Texas recycling firm

New York-based Amlon Environmental Services LLC has announced the acquisition of a majority stake of Alpha Omega Recycling Inc. (AORI), a Texas-based recycler of sludges, metallic dusts and filter press cakes.

Amlon says the acquisition positions Amlon and AORI to become “a market leader in directly managing, processing and recycling spent catalysts and other metal-containing wastes, including complex wastes and byproducts. (AORI’s operations were detailed in a February 2013 Recycling Today feature article, available at www.RecyclingToday.com/article/rt0213-alpha- omega-recycling.)

“We are extremely excited to complete this acquisition and can now offer our customers direct processing and recycling services,” says Lee Lasher, Amlon CEO. “Alpha Omega Recycling Inc. is a unique strategic asset and has worked diligently to become an exceptional fully licensed recycling facility.”

AORI describes itself as Resource Conservation and Recovery Act-licensed and hazardous secondary material-approved recycling facility.

Lasher adds, “Through our unique combined knowledge, experience, creativity, international network, resources, long-term relationships, processing capabilities, strong technical expertise and ability to manage diverse types of metal-containing wastes, byproducts, spent catalysts and scrap materials, we are positioned to offer industry a robust recycling platform and reclamation programs that, I believe, are the best available, bar none. This is a game changer.”

Mark Wayne, president of AORI, says, “The experience and expertise brought together through this transaction is unmatched, and I am excited about the opportunities that lie ahead.”

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August 2017
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