Metal Recycling Process

1. Collection
This is the first and mot important step in metal recycling, which just involves collecting all materials that consist of metals. In most countries, scrap yards are main places whereby people are encouraged to collect different metals, take them there and be paid for what they have collected. Different metals cost differently at the yards.

2. Sorting
Once the metals have been collected, the next important step is to sort the metals. When talking about scrap metal recycling, the basic we need to sort is ferrous metal and non-ferrous metal. A magnet is necessary. Ferrous metal contains some degree of iron while non-ferrous metal does not contain iron as a component. Non-ferrous scrap includes aluminum, copper, lead, nickel, tin, zinc and others.

It also involves separating what can be recycled from what is non-recyclable. Since a high quality recycled product can only be made of quality recycled material, the quality of metal recycled is very important. This therefore, calls for strict quality checkup during the sorting process.

3. Processing
For most of metal scrap, they only need squeezing and squashing by metal scrap baling press, so that they won’t occupy much space. But copper wire with insulation is an exception. Copper cable granulator is one popular machines to process copper wire. By crushing and separating, finally you can get pure copper granule and plastic particles.

4. Shredding
After the basic processing, the shredding process starts. Here we need to use metal crusher or shredder. Good quality metal crusher has wide application like Whirlston’s metal crusher. The metals are broken down into tiny pieces or sheets to allow further processing. The small pieces can save move energy compared with large ones.

5. Melting and Purification
Melting of the scrap metal takes place in a large furnace. Although the recycled metal and metal mineral all need melting, the former requires less energy. Melting can take minutes or hours depending on how big the furnace is , the volume of metal placed in the furnace and the heat degree of the furnace. 

After the melting process is complete, the next step is the purification process. There are different ways to purify metal according to their specialty. 

6. Solidifying
After the purification process, the molten metal is then carried by the conveyor belt to a cooling chamber where it is cooled and solidified. It is at this stage that the scrap metal is made into a solid metal that can be used again.

7. Transportation 
Once the metal is molded well, the final products will be transported to different factories or people according to their size and shape. Thereafter, the cycle begins again.