Secondary raw material feed
Raw materials
Secondary raw material feed
Metallo uses both metallic as well as oxidic secondary raw materials to feed its furnaces, or a combination of both.
Materials are sourced through the entire supply chain, from metal merchants, scrap and waste processors to industry itself, which generates production scrap or by-products and wastes through companies’ own processes.
Typical examples of raw materials are :
- Copper tubes, wire and sheets
- Birch Cliff or Nr 2 copper scraps
- Yellow & red brass pieces, turnings, powders
- Ocean or car radiators
- Shredder fractions from electronic shredding facilities
- Copper and copper/lead granules from cable granulating
- Cu-Fe (shredded) armatures
- Electric motors
- Copper, brass or tin plated iron foils, sheets, pieces
- Copper and copper alloy coins, or plated coins
- Copper, tin and lead bearing runouts, drosses, ashes, fumes, sludges
- Copper cements
- Lead scrap
All types of scraps, residues and wastes can be looked into, whether relatively clean or impurified with other metal components or elements. Our purchasing department can always be contacted with your requests.
Full specifications analysis, physical appearance and packing details are required for proper feasibility screening.
Preparing the feed
Upon receipt of the materials, loads are first checked visually. In accordance with suppliers’ requirements, samples are taken for chemical assaying in trust or in the presence of a neutral surveyor.
After performance of quality evaluation and the supplier’s agreement on the assays, material is released for production feed.
Some qualities of scrap need specific treatment prior to feeding. Some are baled by means of hydraulic balers; other qualities are cut into manageable pieces by means of scrap shears. If necessary, slag is broken into smaller fragments.
Copper and tin ashes and residues are dried in a drying installation and separated into a fine (< 1 mm) and a coarse fraction. The fine fraction is stored in silos and pneumatically injected into the melting bath of the furnaces. The coarse fraction is mixed with the other raw materials to prepare the furnace charges.
The furnace charges are prepared in advance. Each furnace charge is a mixture of different kinds of raw materials. A distinction is made between three kinds of furnace charges, because the processing starts at different stages:
- A “poor” charge, i.e. a furnace charge containing only relatively low-grade and mainly cupriferous raw materials, usually of an oxidic nature (copper ashes and slag, Cu/Fe scrap, etc.)
- A “rich” charge, i.e. a furnace charge that only consists of high-grade cupriferous raw materials, usually of a metallic nature (copper scrap, gun metal, radiators, etc)
- A “lead/tin” charge, i.e. a furnace charge that only consists of specific tin-containing and plumbiferous raw materials
