The end of density problems with twin-shaft shredders

Chad Smith has been running his scrap yard for 13 years in Jena, Louisiana. He, like many others, operates a family-owned recycling business, which is in its second generation. The company processes around 1,000 metric tons per month consisting of various types of scrap.

Chad has gone through a natural process during his years leading the business, including facing the realization that he needed to add value to the material in his yard. This prompted him to invest in equipment. Among the numerous options in the market, he decided to acquire a twin-shaft shredder. In the beginning, he could process material to add some value to his product; but, he soon realized it was not the most effective way to do it.

After trying to upgrade his light steel scrap using a twin-shaft shredder for about three years, he concluded that the output material didn’t reach market premium standards with respect to cleanliness and density.

“We were getting a lot of pushback from the mills. They were quite reluctant to purchase the material processed by the twin-shaft,” he remarks.

Facing this situation, Chad needed to find a solution tailored to a company of his size that would allow him to upgrade his pre-shredded material. “I researched a lot online and, after watching all the THOR videos on YouTube, I was sure that I needed to reach out to ZB Group.”

ZB Group is a Spain-based equipment maker with more than 40 years of experience designing and manufacturing crushing and shredding equipment. It was the first company to design and manufacture a mobile hammermill shredder, introducing the first unit into the North American market in 2013.

Chad contacted ZB Group, which also is a family-owned and -operated business, for more information. From the beginning, communicating with and understanding the ZB Group’s team was easy and fluent, with both firms being on the same page. “As soon as you start talking with them, you realize they are an honest company willing to help you from the beginning,” Chad says.

“Making the jump to a hammermill was a scary leap for us; these are significant investments for an owner-operator,” he continues. “But, it has been a game-changer for us. Productivity and density have gone up, wear and tear in the twin-shaft has gone down, and we are getting a significant premium from the market as we are able to market our material as shred rather than HMS [heavy melting steel]. And, most significant of all, we are now able to recover the nonferrous metals, and that is the true goal of shredding, isn’t it?”

Chad explains, “Once you see how quick the return on the investment is and the amount of money you were giving away before, you regret not making this move earlier.”

Based on his previous experiences with overseas manufacturers, Chad said he originally had serious concerns about the level of after-sale service he was going to get. “Who doesn’t have or know of someone that has had a nightmarish service experience with an overseas company?” he asks.

However, given that ZB Group has a spare parts warehouse and service team housed in Atlanta, GA, and the feedback he got from existing customers, that concern was all but gone. “Having a local service team and spare parts stock was key for us,” Chad says. “And our experience so far has been great. Both service teams, the one in ZB Group’s headquarters and the one in Atlanta, are very involved and have responded to our questions in a timely manner.”

“Now that I’m doing it, the thing that has surprised me the most is that I didn’t think I would be able to get into shredding with my size,” Chad says. “We are conditioned to think that in order to get into the shredding business, you have to have thousands of tons and $20 million to $30 million to invest. The units that ZB produces make a beautiful product that the mills love and at a fraction of the investment.”

“For a little bit over $1 million, the THOR-6363-K is a cost-effective and accessible way for small and medium yards like ours to bridge the gap between the ‘preshredded’ material produced by the twin-shaft shredders and the shredded ferrous scrap that steel mills seek.”

The THOR-6363-K hammermill has allowed Chad’s company to process more than 20 gross tons per hour of pre-shredded material to achieve densities of nearly 70 pounds per square foot.

“We decided to go with smaller grates to get a premium density and better liberation when processing irony-aluminum,” he says. Now, his company finally can efficiently and quickly convert and ship the material the company has.

“I would recommend others in similar situations to contact ZB Group,” Chad concludes based on his experience. “It is the smart option if you are processing HMS through your twin-shaft and you are not getting the finished product you and your customers want.”