Ask the Experts Metals

Jin Cao Principal Development Engineer

Metal scrap that’s contaminated with combustibles like oil, paint or plastic is difficult to melt with conventional methods. Thermal delacquering systems are often used to pretreat the scrap before it’s melted, but these systems increase operational costs. Processing contaminated scrap in air-fuel furnaces has drawbacks like high combustion gas volumes and fumes. The temperature and particles of the combustible material can overwhelm the baghouse. Often, particle load and contamination of the furnace gases do not allow the operation of regenerative burner systems, making energy-efficient melting hard to achieve. Plus, unburned combustibles can reduce furnace efficiency. Oxy-fuel and air-oxy-fuel combustion technologies can enable in situ burnout of combustible fumes, lowering combustion gas volumes and increasing temperatures. Also, utilizing the energy released by burning the contaminants can help reduce energy costs. Call us to learn more about optimizing your scrap melting, 800-654-4567.