Project progress
The project started on the 1st October 2003 and was broken down into a number of stages over an eighteen-month period.
The initial work of the project involved arranging all the pieces of machinery necessary for the system to be delivered to the project site and preparing the site itself for the installation of the system. The installation of the machinery at the project site involved all three project participants and their teams of staff. The completion of the preparation work and the installation of the machinery took three months to complete.
The next area of work was to commission the machines and begin processing fridges and freezers through the system. It took the team of engineers considerable time to get all the components of the system settled and operating correctly.
Initially the team concentrated on ensuring that the CFCs were safely captured, as these present the most environmentally hazardous element of the process. This has been achieved in two stages. During the pre-preparation stage of the process the fridges and freezers are de-gassed and the compressor pot removed.
Then a second process extracts residual CFC in the carcasses using cryogenic technology during shredding. The initial cryogenic equipment did not meet expectations and had to have alterations completed on it to ensure compliance with legislation and the Environment Agency. Whilst this work was being completed the system did not process any fridges or freezers to ensure there was no environmental hazard created.
Where the system had been proved for fridges and freezers, the project team began processing other types of large household appliances including washing machines, tumble dryers and cookers. The pre preparation stage of the process had to be adjusted for these appliances. The team had hoped that washing machines could be treated whole, however it quickly became apparent that it would be necessary to remove the concrete blocks from within them before the recovery system would work effectively.
The project continued to test household appliances from a variety of manufacturers through the system over a six-month period. Whilst some of the appliances were successfully recovered, the test showed that the system had limitations in respect of a number of products currently being produced. The project team experimented with a number of ways to overcome the system limitations in respect of these items, but could not find and effective or commercially viable solution.
Currently the system developed by the project processes up to 7,000 fridges and freezers each week and operates on a 24 hour basis. The plant also reprocesses a more limited number of other household appliances, which have shown to be effectively recovered by the system. The system is delivering high quality outputs, which are separated into ferrous, copper, aluminum, and mixed plastics, which are being sold in bulk for recycling into new products.
The project has delivered all the objectives set, with the exception of the system limitations identified in respect of certain household appliances, and has achieved these four months ahead of schedule.
The main lessons learnt from developing the project have been:
- Each type of WEEE has different requirements to achieve the aim of full de-manufacture of products
- Full de-manufacture means a complete breakdown of all constituent materials making up any given product
- Manual dismantling of electric motors and electronic control devices is advised
- This removes the necessity to employ highly sophisticated separation equipment for a relevant small amount of throughput
- These items are best passed on to highly specialized demanufacturers of electronic waste
- The intensity of staff training and education directly reflects in the correlation between partial and total success
- Whilst the system is totally successful in the process of de-manufacture of fridges/freezers, its adaptability for use in processing other WEEE products is compromised by the amount of sophistication required of it
- Applying manual assistance to this process enables the machinery to de-manufacture a broader spectrum of products
