Search

US-20260126404-A1 - METHOD FOR TREATING BULK MATERIAL COMPOSED OF PREDOMINANTLY METALLIC OBJECTS AND DEVICE FOR IMPLEMENTING SUCH A METHOD

US20260126404A1US 20260126404 A1US20260126404 A1US 20260126404A1US-20260126404-A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for treating bulk material made of predominantly metal objects, having the steps of carrying out a process of individualizing objects in a supply step (S 3 ), wherein the individualizing process leads to a substantially one-dimensional arrangement of individual parts one behind the other with a minimum spacing between one another that corresponds to the time interval required by an analysis system to analyze an object for a given supply speed; carrying out an X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF analysis) or a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) of individual objects provided in the supply step by means of an analysis system in an analysis step (S 4 ); ascertaining the material composition of the individual objects of the analysis step in an evaluation step (S 5 ); and carrying out a subsequent treatment step (87) in which the ascertained material composition of the individual objects is used as the basis for the subsequent treatment.

Inventors

  • Georg Schons

Assignees

  • RECOVER PURE MATERIALS GMBH

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20230619
Priority Date
20221005

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A method for treating bulk material composed of predominantly metallic objects, the method comprising the following step: individualizing objects in a feeding step (S 3 ), the individualizing leading to an essentially one-dimensional single-file arrangement of individual parts, the individual parts having a minimum distance from each other, which, at a given feeding speed, corresponds to a time interval required by an analyzing system to analyze an object; carrying out an X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF analysis) or a laser-induced plasma spectroscopy (LIPS) of individual objects provided by the feeding step by means of an analyzing system in an analyzing step (S 4 ); determining the material composition of the individual objects of the analyzing step in an evaluating step (S 5 ); carrying out a further treatment step (S 7 ), in which the determined material composition of the individual objects serves as a basis for further treatment, wherein in the course of the X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF analysis) or the laser-induced plasma spectroscopy (LIPS) by means of an analyzing system, the individual parts are analyzed from two essentially opposite, analyzing directions so that each individual part is analyzed from two sides.
  2. 2 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising a presorting step (S 2 . 1 ) prior to the analyzing step (S 4 ), in which part of the bulk material is sorted out and not fed to the analyzing system.
  3. 3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein in the presorting step (S 2 . 1 ), the objects are optically analyzed.
  4. 4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein a shape detection and/or a color detection is carried out in the optical analysis.
  5. 5 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein in the presorting step (S 2 . 1 ), the bulk material is fractionated by size, and at least one size fraction is not fed to the analyzing system.
  6. 6 . The method according to claims 1 further comprising a weighing step (S 6 ), in which the weight or the mass of individual objects of the bulk material is determined, the weighing step being carried out after the individualization of the objects in the feeding step (S 3 ) and/or at the end of the method as a differential measurement in a collecting vessel.
  7. 7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein in the further treatment step (S 7 ), a bulk material property is calculated, the calculation involving linking the material composition of the individual objects determined in the evaluating step (S 5 ) with the determined weight or the determined mass of the object in question.
  8. 8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the bulk material is obtained as a sample from a larger amount of material.
  9. 9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein in the feeding step, bulk material with a weight of at least 500 kg is fed.
  10. 10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein in the further treatment step (S 7 ), objects are sorted into at least three fractions based on the material composition of the individual objects determined in the evaluating step (S 5 ).
  11. 11 . The method according to claims 1 , characterized in that wherein in the further treatment step (S 7 ), different fractions of detectable/detected metals are sorted.
  12. 12 . The method according to claim 11 , wherein in the further treatment step (S 7 ), different precious-metal fractions are sorted.
  13. 13 . The method according to claim 11 , characterized in that wherein in the further treatment step (S 7 ), different heavy-metal fractions are sorted.
  14. 14 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein in the further treatment step (S 7 ), sorted fractions are subjected to smelting.
  15. 15 . The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that wherein in the course of the individualization of the objects, a plurality of single-file arrangements with a minimum distance between the objects in each single-file arrangement are produced, the single-file arrangements running or being oriented parallel to each other.
  16. 16 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the bulk material is obtained from the residue of thermal waste treatment.
  17. 17 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the bulk material is obtained from the reclamation of motor vehicles.
  18. 18 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the bulk material is obtained from the reclamation of dental waste or from the ash of crematories.
  19. 19 . A device for treating bulk material composed of predominantly metallic objects, the device comprising an individualization device that produces an individualization of the objects on or along a feeding device so that a minimum distance between the objects is maintained, which, at a given feeding speed of the feeding device, corresponds to a time interval required by an analyzing system to analyze an object, the device further comprising such an analyzing system for performing an X-ray fluorescence analysis or a laser-induced plasma spectroscopy, and the device further comprising evaluation means for determining the material composition of the individual objects on the basis of the information about the objects obtained in the analyzing step, and the device further comprising further treatment means with which the individual objects are treated further on the basis of the determined material composition, wherein the analyzing system is configured in such a manner that in the course of the X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF analysis) or the laser-induced plasma spectroscopy (LIPS), the individual parts are analyzed from two essentially opposite analyzing directions so that each individual part is analyzed from two sides.
  20. 20 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the two essentially opposite analyzing directions are parallel.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for treating bulk material composed of predominantly metallic objects and a device for implementing a method for treating bulk material composed of predominantly metallic objects. In recent years and decades, the reuse of raw materials or the return of raw materials into a production or product life cycle, often summarized under the keyword “recycling”, has become increasingly important in the raw materials industry. Due to the currently high and still increasing consumption of resources, it is essential for future resource management that as many raw materials as possible can be used for multiple product life cycles, which is why a high degree of recycling is inevitably necessary. In the field of treatment and reuse of metals, there have been various approaches and methods for separating metals from non-metals, for separating non-ferrous metals from ferrous metals, and for separating precious metals from base metals, for example. However, these methods still have various disadvantages. For example, one disadvantage is that the process from the reclamation of an object to the generation or production of renewed or processed raw materials, which in turn can be fed into a production process, requires many individual steps and individual processes, which today are carried out by a plurality of different economic units. As a rule, the more further processing or treatment that is carried out, the higher the value or the concentration of the recoverable components. At the beginning, the recoverability, for example of bulk metal or a bulk material composed predominantly of metallic parts, is not only low but also largely undetermined. It is therefore not readily apparent whether a source material, for example a bulk material, composed predominantly of metallic objects has an infinitesimally small amount of recoverable components or objects, which basically makes an economic reclamation, in particular an economic concentration of the recoverable components, impossible, or whether, in contrast, the initial concentration, while being low, is high or great enough for an economic reclamation and also a recovery of the recoverable components after suitable pre-treatment or concentration processes to make economic sense. The cost of treatment for recovering the individual raw materials from a source mixture, e.g., a bulk material with mainly metallic objects, is another problem which is also indirectly related to the source material and the concentration of recoverable components in the source material. In principle, many different methods are known. However, two factors are interrelated: the preliminary processes and the related costs for the acquisition and operation of such plants on the one hand, and the prices of raw materials and the potential profits from the recovered raw materials on the other hand. In the case of metals, if the work and the costs for treatment and separation were negligible, the optimal case would be to first produce metal fractions that are absolutely pure in terms of type, and then to melt and/or clean them in order to obtain raw materials or resources that can be fed into a manufacturing process. In reality, however, the methods and devices used to produce material fractions with concentrated contents of valuable or recoverable objects from a source mixture, in particular a source bulk material, are anything but negligible. This means that, even with rising raw material prices, the concentration of recoverable objects or the production of fractions with a correspondingly high content of recoverable objects or components has to be carried out as effectively and cost-efficiently as possible; furthermore, the effort involved, in particular with regard to costs, must be such that the proceeds ultimately achievable from the sale of resources or precursors of resources, such as precious metals, does not turn out to be less than the previously invested effort for sorting or concentrating. With this in mind, the prior art has typically been employing methods and devices that cause as little effort as possible, can be operated cost-effectively and also allow a high throughput of material or mass, even if only a low concentration or yield is achieved with these methods. A method for sorting scrap metal, in particular scrap aluminum, is known from WO 2017/194585 A1. It proposes analyzing spaced-apart individual parts by means of XRF or LIBS in order to determine the contents of Mg, Mn, Si or Fe in a surface layer. Mg and Si, in particular, cannot be identified/measured by XRF. US 2022/0016675 A1 additionally teaches a multi-stage sorting system also featuring an analysis by means of XRF or LIBS in addition to an optical analysis and distance measurement. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to propose methods and devices that overcome the problems existing in the prior art, in particular method