Sennebogen partnered with Cronimet to develop the new battery-powered material handler.

Cronimet Ferroleg GmbH, a metal recycling and trading company based in Karlsruhe, Germany, has deployed the new Sennebogen 825 Electro Battery scrap handler at its facility in Karlsruhe.

According to a news release from Straubing, Germany-based Sennebogen, the company partnered with Cronimet to develop the 825 Electro Battery machine. The new battery-powered handler combines the flexibility of traditional diesel-powered excavators with the benefits of a zero-emission electric excavator that also features lower maintenance and energy costs, say the firms.

The Sennebogen 825 Electro Battery model is based on the Sennebogen 825 E model with a 110-kilowatt electric motor. The new model features an operating weight of about 30 tons and range of 14 meters, the same as on the 825 E model. The 825 Electro’s power storage unit, a lithium-ion battery pack with 378 kilowatt hours of storage capacity installed at the rear of the machine in place of the counterweight, enables the machine to operate for up to eight hours without intermediate charging. When used stationary by cable, the scrap handler can work and charge at the same time.

According to a news release from Cronimet, the electric handler can be connected to conventional power sockets through an onboard charger and 63A CEE plug system, which ensures there is no need to invest in additional charging columns.

Sennebogen says the 825 Electro Battery model features a comfortable cab environment for operators, as it is quieter and has lower vibrations compared with a traditional diesel-powered unit.

The companies say the Electro Battery model “enables completely emission-free work” to help Cronimet reduce CO2 emissions at its operations.

Marijo Zeljko, managing director of Cronimet Ferroleg GmbH, says the project to develop the 825 Electro Battery was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection.

“With this innovation project, we are taking a decisive step on the road to CO2 neutrality,” Zeljko says. “Electrification of our machinery is a key component of our climate strategy.”

Cronimet Ferroleg GmbH operates nine material handlers at its facility in Karlsruhe. The facility processes about 140,000 metric tons of stainless steel scrap and other alloyed scrap per year. Cronimet plans to use the new battery-powered model to feed the site’s baler, preparing material for the baler and for sorting work in its inbound inventory department.

Sennebogen says the Sennebogen 825 Electro Battery will be on display at Bauma 2022 Oct. 24-31, which will take place in Munich.

Through this partnership, RubiconSmartCity technology will be available on the Samsara App Marketplace.

Rubicon Technologies Inc., a digital marketplace and provider of software-based products for the waste and recycling industry based in Lexington, Kentucky, has partnered with San Francisco-based Samsara Inc. to help its municipal customers.

Samsara offers Connected Operations Cloud, which is built to access, analyze and act on operations data. Data sharing on Samsara’s application programming interface provides customers with a single source to improve efficiency, reduce costs and maintain operations. Rubicon offers its RubiconSmartCity cloud-based technology suite to help municipal governments manage heavy-duty waste and recycling fleet operations.

According to a news release from Rubicon, RubiconSmartCity is now available on the Samsara App Marketplace to improve efficiency and sustainability in government fleets. Shared municipal customers will have access to fault codes, speeding, fuel level and GPS data, as well as visibility into vehicle diagnostics information to improve safety and transparency.

“With billions of data points flowing through Samsara each day, we’re able to act as a command center for customers to run every part of their municipal operations,” says Sean McGee, vice president of Platform and Infrastructure at Samsara. “Through this integration, we look forward to coupling the scale of Samsara’s Connected Operations Cloud with Rubicon’s smart city technology to give customers the visibility they need to provide smarter and safer citizen services.”

Conor Riffle, senior vice president of Smart Cities at Rubicon, says Rubicon’s mission is to end waste, and he says this partnership helps to achieve that goal. He says, “Our mission refers to waste in the physical sense but also to wasted time and, in the case of Rubicon’s smart city technology products, wasted government resources. This technology partnership with Samsara allows both companies to deliver a superior solution for city solid waste departments and fleets as a whole, while continuing to save taxpayer dollars.”

The company’s technology is an alternative to conventional pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy processes used by battery recyclers.

Nth Cycle, a metal processing and recycling technology company based in Boston, has begun commercial operations of its patented electro-extraction mining and refining technology. Electro-extraction technology is a low-cost alternative to conventional pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy processes that are currently used by mining companies and battery recyclers.

“As the world moves towards an electrified, net-zero future, we should strive to ensure the tools of that transition are as clean as the future we envision,” says Megan O’Connor, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nth Cycle. “The Inflation Reduction Act will dramatically accelerate critical mineral mining and refining activity in the U.S. through stringent ‘localized’ requirements for the critical minerals used to make the batteries that power electric vehicles. We expect Nth Cycle’s electro-extraction technology to be a pivotal solution in closing the resulting gap between supply and demand for domestic critical materials through cost-effective, efficient and environmentally conscious refining at home.”

Nth Cycle began operation of its first commercial-scale electro-extraction unit—called the OYSTER—in August. According to a news release from Nth Cycle, the unit will process a range of materials for validation with the company’s near-term partners and is currently processing black mass, the end product from mechanical separation of end-of-life batteries.

“The successful operation of our first commercial-scale unit opens the door for us to deploy our technology widely and quickly,” says Chris Thoren, vice president of engineering at Nth Cycle. “We are currently upgrading postindustrial waste to produce [nickel mixed hydroxide precipitate], an important material that allows car manufacturers to comply with the new electric vehicle tax credit. With a current footprint of only a few thousand square feet, our system deploys easily in the field in a matter of months, as opposed to the years it typically takes to build and begin operations for traditional refining facilities.”

In Europe, the mixed polyolefin market has narrowed throughout the year.

The spread between European 90 percent mixed polyolefin bale values and monomaterial polyolefin bale values is at its lowest on record. This is with the exception of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) postcommercial flexible bales, where the spread has been at its narrowest since January.

The value of 90 percent mixed polyolefin bales is at 50 euros per metric ton on average below that of monomaterial high-density polyethylene mixed-colored bales, 75 euros per metric ton on average below postconsumer polypropylene (PP) bales and 100 euros per metric ton on average below black postindustrial PP bales and natural LDPE flexible postcommercial 98/2 bales.

In addition, there was talk in recycled polyolefin markets as of the week of Sept. 5 that players are starting to restrict activity to core markets. This is amid high energy costs, macroeconomic weakness, substitution to virgin and narrowing margins for nonpackaging markets such as construction and automotive.

Meanwhile, downstream spot recycled mixed polyolefin pellet prices—typically used by nonpackaging mechanical recycling applications such as construction—were heard as low as 760 euros per metric ton ex-works northwest Europe as of the week of Sept. 5.

Despite these factors, players are not currently seeing downward pressure on 90 percent mixed polyolefin values. This was, in part, attributed to low availability and partly attributed to pyrolysis-based chemical recyclers absorbing demand loss from mechanical recycling, as pilot plants continue to scale up. The onboarding of pyrolysis-based chemical recycling is expected to further tighten availability.

The 90 percent mixed polyolefin merchant market availability has narrowed throughout the year as waste managers have increasingly onboarded capacity to reprocess material captively.

Most of the chemical recycling market remains precommercial. Although volumes are expected to increase significantly in 2023 and 2024, most expect it to take at least five years for the market to reach scale.

Multiple market players have voiced concern in recent months that waste availability in Europe remains insufficient to cover future volume needs from the chemical recycling industry in 2023 and 2024. Although chemical recycling can take waste fractions that are not possible to mechanically recycle, there are still a number of technical requirements for waste input.

Pyrolysis, for example, typically requires the minimization of chlorine content (typically to 0.1 percent or less) due to its corrosive effect. In addition, it requires the removal of polyethylene terephthalate because it oxygenates the process and does not depolymerize using pyrolysis. It also requires the avoidance of nylon and flame retardants.

Coupled with this, the ongoing lack of clarity over chemical recycling’s legal status continues to concern industry players and, along with access to waste, remains one of the key risk factors to industry growth.

Current European Union regulations typically use the definition of recycling set out in Directive 2008/98/EC in which recycling is any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials or substances whether for the original or other purposes. It includes the reprocessing of organic material but does not include energy recovery and the reprocessing into materials that are to be used as fuels or for backfilling operations.

This leaves the regulatory status of chemical recycling under the proposals uncertain.

This analysis was contributed on behalf of the London-based Independent Commodity Intelligence Services (ICIS). The author is a senior recycling editor at ICIS.

With investment from Koch Technology Solutions, Ioniqa hopes to expand its ability to recycle colored PET, reaching food-quality standards.

Koch Technology Solutions, (KTS), a Koch Engineered Solutions company, and Ioniqa Technologies B.V. have announced a partnership to scale up and commercialize Ioniqa’s advanced polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling technology. As part of this collaboration, KTS, Wichita, Kansas, has committed to investing up to 30 million pounds in Ioniqa, which is based in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Ioniqa has developed a process that uses low-grade postconsumer PET to produce a feedstock that displaces virgin raw materials used in the production of polyester products. Ioniqa has successfully demonstrated this technology in The Netherlands’ 10KTA production facility. “After the scaling of our technology to a 10KTA depolymerization plant in The Netherlands, this KTS partnership is a major steppingstone for Ioniqa in commercializing its technology on a global level,” Ioniqa CEO and founder Tonnis Hooghoudt says. “Our expertise in breaking down plastic waste into virgin-like monomers matches seamlessly with KTS’ track record in designing and licensing PET production processes worldwide. We believe that together we can meet the strong market demand for recycled PET materials by jointly providing licenses and cleaning up the planet.” The demand in the PET market currently runs at about 30 million metric tons per year. On its website, Ioniqa says it upcycles “all sorts of PET, even colored PET.” The company, which received a loan from the Coca-Cola Co. in 2018, says recycling colored PET has not been possible until now, but the raw material produced by the company’s depolymerization process results in plastics suitable for food packaging and identical to those produced from oil. During depolymerization, the plastic is submerged in a solution, such as water or glycol. The molecular structure of the polymer, which consists of identical units (the monomers), will then slowly start to dissolve. With the raw material that Ioniqa harvests, the company produces new, clear PET bottles that are food safe. “KTS has a long history in the polyester industry, and we recognize the value proposition of this disruptive technology that will fundamentally change how recycling is done,” KTS President Adam Sackett says. “With an aligned vision on the future of PET recycling, we’re excited to launch this partnership with Ioniqa and leverage our complementary capabilities to advance solutions which are tailored to the needs of the market.” KTS and Ioniqa’s partnership will address the growing demand for recycled content in the PET market and drive a circular process that addresses the environmental impacts of the current PET industry. Related articles: The Recycling Partnership launches PET Recycling Coalition | Bottle-to-bottle PET recycling makes gains