Material Recovery Facility: Difference between revisions

no edit summary
No edit summary
 
(9 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 18: Line 18:
There are essentially four broad types of MRF:
There are essentially four broad types of MRF:
*'''"Single-Stream" MRFs''' that are focused on one [[recyclate]] stream, removing any contamination/contrary materials from that material to produce a high quality [[recyclate]] with high value.
*'''"Single-Stream" MRFs''' that are focused on one [[recyclate]] stream, removing any contamination/contrary materials from that material to produce a high quality [[recyclate]] with high value.
*'''"Clean" MRFs''' that are focused on [[Dry Mixed Recyclables]] ([[DMR]]). They remove contamination/contrary materials of up to c. 20% in the input mix (in the worst cases) and produce a variety of separate good quality [[recyclate]] streams with less than c.2% contrary materials with good value.
*'''"Clean" MRFs''' that are focused on [[Dry Mixed Recyclables]] ([[DMR]]). They remove contamination/contrary materials in the input mix and produce a variety of separate good quality [[recyclate]] streams with good value, with low levels of contrary materials .
*'''"Dirty" MRFs'''/'''Waste to Fuel MRF''' which extract some [[recyclate]] from mixed [[MSW]] and [[Commercial Waste]] streams with more of a focus on producing a [[Waste Derived Fuel]] ([[WDF]]). [[Recyclate]] tends to be of poor quality and of lower value.  
*'''"Dirty" MRFs'''/'''Waste to Fuel MRF''' which extract some [[recyclate]] from mixed [[MSW]] and [[Commercial Waste]] streams with more of a focus on producing a [[Waste Derived Fuel]] ([[WDF]]). [[Recyclate]] tends to be of poor quality and of lower value.  
*'''Material specific MRFs''' for example:
*'''Material specific MRFs''' for example:
Line 24: Line 24:
**[[Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment]]
**[[Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment]]
**[[Plastic]] materials and purpose designed '''[[PRF]]s''' ([[Plastics Recovery Facility]] or [[Plastics Recovery Facility | Plastics Recycling Facility]])
**[[Plastic]] materials and purpose designed '''[[PRF]]s''' ([[Plastics Recovery Facility]] or [[Plastics Recovery Facility | Plastics Recycling Facility]])
MRFs are increasingly using a variety of automated technologies to reduce the amount of manual sorting of materials by people. Historically simple mechanical systems have evolved, and new systems include the use of infra red and air-based systems. Current advances including moving towards robotic sorting using the latest artificial intelligence systems.


=="Clean" MRFs==
=="Clean" MRFs==
Line 31: Line 33:
|rowspan=7|[[File:Suez MRF drawing.png|MRF Diagram|link=[[Suez]]]]||1. Material Feed - often delivered via a [[Bag Breaker]]
|rowspan=7|[[File:Suez MRF drawing.png|MRF Diagram|link=[[Suez]]]]||1. Material Feed - often delivered via a [[Bag Breaker]]
|-  
|-  
|2a.[[Trommel]]/Trommel Screen - normally used to separate off the larger, lighter mixed [[Paper & Card|paper and cardboard]] fractions from the other materials
|2a.[[wikipedia:Trommel screen|Trommel Screen]] - normally used to separate off the larger, lighter mixed [[Paper & Card|paper and cardboard]] fractions from the other materials
|-
|-
|2b.[[Ballistic Separator]] - normally used to separate 2-dimensional light and flat items (such as [[Paper & Card|paper and cardboard]]) from 3-dimensional heavier rigid items such as [[glass]] bottles and cans
|2b.[[Ballistic Separator]] - normally used to separate 2-dimensional light and flat items (such as [[Paper & Card|paper and cardboard]]) from 3-dimensional heavier rigid items such as [[glass]] bottles and cans
Line 37: Line 39:
|3a.[[Magnetic Separator]] - used to separate [[steel cans]]/[[Ferrous Metal|ferrous metals]]
|3a.[[Magnetic Separator]] - used to separate [[steel cans]]/[[Ferrous Metal|ferrous metals]]
|-
|-
|3b.[[Air Separator]]/Air Classifier - used to separate heavy from light materials, in this case to remove contamination from the [[glass]] fraction
|3b.[[wikipedia: Air knife| Air Knife]]/Air Separator - used to separate heavy from light materials, in this case to remove contamination from the [[glass]] fraction
|-
|-
|4.[[Eddy Current Separator]] - used to separate [[aluminium cans]]/[[Non-Ferrous Metal|non-ferrous metals]]
|4.[[Eddy Current Separator]] - used to separate [[aluminium cans]]/[[Non-Ferrous Metal|non-ferrous metals]]