2021 marks the 11th anniversary of Erie's launch of its P-Rex (Permanent Rare Earth Xtreme) waste barrel. According to Mike Shattuck, the company's recycling market manager, they continue to develop and innovate the technology during this time.

"Although we initially sold P-Rex mainly for scrap recycling, today it has been found in various other successful applications and has many improvements," Shattuck explained.

He said that P-Rex represents a historic breakthrough in the separation of ferrous metals. Its powerful magnetic circuit is 40% stronger than an electromagnetic drum, and it can move iron-containing waste twice the distance. With a consistently high magnetic field from edge to edge, P-Rex has a higher recovery rate than standard drums and facilitates more agitation to remove iron from debris, thereby providing cleaner iron products.

According to Eriez, its developers set out to design a drum to recover electric motors (called "meatballs") and spheres from the waste recycling process to prevent these dangerous materials from producing fluff, thereby reducing the chance of fires.

"Although P-Rex is very effective for this, we soon became convinced that we can further utilize the power of this drum and make improvements in other ways," said Shattuck.

Eriez has since cooperated with P-Rex and Shred1 ballistic metal separator. P-Rex provides Shred1 with more copper bearing materials. This greatly increases the amount of copper mining, thereby increasing income.

"By combining P-Rex with Shred1, the amount of copper picked from many yards has increased from 6 to 8 pounds per ton to 12 pounds per ton of fragments," said Shattuck.

He said that when Eriez used P-Rex Scrap Drum and its multiple stirrings to develop their “deep” craft, another achievement occurred. This process provides a cleaner ferrous metal product because the ferrous metal passes under the roller instead of the top. This allows the fluff to fall directly onto the non-ferrous metal conveyor instead of returning to the feed line. Through the repeated mixing of P-Rex and the pulling plate technology to prevent iron from accumulating on the surface of the drum, the result is a cleaner iron product.

Shattuck continued, “P-Rex’s huge site and its extraordinary strength make it an ideal choice for waste to energy plants that require large clearances. The raw strength is also suitable for large non-ferrous metals in slag recycling operations that may have traces of ferrous iron. The unparalleled power of P-Rex is very effective in these very difficult applications."

According to Chris Ramsdell, Product Manager of Eriez Separation and Recycling, the company consulted with recycling customers in the process of updating the latest model of the RevX-E eddy current separator to meet their needs. Features include easier-to-maintain packaging. 

Ramsdell explained: "We have always heard the same requirements from customers: they need high power, low maintenance, minimum downtime and longer life. We use the RevX-E eddy current separator to meet all these requirements."

Eriez's RevX-E eddy current separator has an eccentrically mounted magnetic rotor in a non-conductive housing for separating non-ferrous metals. The rare earth rotor generates a strong magnetic field at the end of the belt. 

"When developing this machine, we considered a lot of issues regarding ease of maintenance," Ramsdell said. RevX-E’s updated design takes up less floor space and includes a cantilevered frame that allows maintenance personnel to replace belts in less than 10 minutes. The new hood with adjustable diverter allows the operator to handle different sizes of non-ferrous materials and ensure optimal separation. The large access panel around the machine allows easy access to maintenance. The device also includes the direct drive of the rotor and the conveyor. 

RevX-E has two models: ST22 and LT2. Both models are manufactured on the same vortex separator frame. Ramsdell said the only difference between ST22 and LT2 is the magnet configuration on the rotor assembly.

ST22 adopts 22-pole rare earth eccentric rotor, which is designed to process fine materials less than 1 inch. This rotor option provides a high frequency of pole-changing and is used to remove small non-ferrous metals from shredded plastic/PET flakes.

LT2 uses an eight-pole rare earth eccentric rotor, which is designed to handle coarse materials of 1 inch and larger. This rotor option provides a deep, high-power vortex field that allows larger non-ferrous metals, such as crushed aluminum cans, to be removed from the PET bottle stream. 

2200 Asbury Road Erie, PA US, 16506

In recent years, we have seen the trend of replacing separation screens with ballistic separators. We like ballistic separators as much as the next person, but believe they have their place. How do you know where that place is? 

Check out some of our expert tips here.

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