Benefits of Holistic Shredder Residue Recovery: Mechanical Recycling and Energy Recovery

摘要

End-of-life appliances and automobiles are shredded for metal recovery leaving behind approximately 5 million tons of mostly non-metallic shredder residue in the United States annually. A holistic shredder residue recovery process is under development that has yielded surprising benefits. Mechanical recovery of fines driven by residual metal recovery economics has resulted in substantial improvements in plastic and glass mechanical recovery. Together these enhancements in mechanical recycling have improved prospects for economic production of engineered fuel products from organic-rich residues. These engineered fuel products may in turn be available to increase efficiency of biomass electricity production through co-combustion operations. This holistic strategy has shown great promise for developing a profitable near- zero waste automobile and appliance recovery process.