2020 marks 10 years since Eriez introduced its P-Rex (Permanent Rare Earth Xtreme) scrap drums and, according to Recycling Market Manager Mike Shattuck, they have continued to develop and innovate the drum in this time.
He explains, "While we initially marketed P-Rex mainly for scrap recycling, today it is found in a variety of other successful applications and features many improvements."
P-Rex's magnetic circuit is up to 40 percent stronger than electromagnetic drums and is capable of moving ferrous scrap at twice the distance. With a consistently high magnetic field from edge-to-edge, P-Rex has a higher recovery than standard drums and facilitates more agitation to remove ferrous from debris, providing a cleaner ferrous product.
Eriez says that its research and development staff set out to design a drum to recover electric motors (known as "meatballs") and spheres from the scrap recycling process as a means to keep these dangerous materials out of the fluff, thereby reducing the opportunity for fires. "Although P-Rex is extremely effective for this purpose, we soon became convinced that we could further harness the power of this drum in additional ways and incorporate improvements," says Shattuck.
Eriez partnered the P-Rex with the Shred1 Ballistic Metal Separator. The P-Rex provides more copper bearing material to the Shred1. This greatly increases the copper pickings, resulting in increased revenue. "By utilizing the P-Rex in conjunction with the Shred1, copper pickings from many yards went from 6 to 8 pounds per ton to as high as 12 lbs per ton of shred," says Shattuck.
Another achievement occurred when Eriez developed the "under flow" process, utilizing the P-Rex Scrap Drum and its multiple agitations. This process provides a cleaner ferrous product, as ferrous is passed under the drum instead of over the top. This allows fluff to fall directly to the nonferrous conveyor instead of back into the line of feed. With the multiple agitations of the P-Rex, and the traction plate technology which keeps ferrous from bunching up on the drum surface, the result is a much cleaner ferrous product.
Shattuck explains, "The huge field of the P-Rex and its extraordinary strength make it ideal for waste to energy plants where a large gap is required. The raw strength also lends itself to slag recycling operations where trace amounts of ferrous may be attached to large pieces of nonferrous. The unmatched power of P-Rex is exceptionally effective in these very difficult applications."
