Thommen Schweiz: Aluminium and Heavy metals sorting with X-ray transmission and X-ray Fluorescence

Thommen AG, part of the Thommen Group, is a model Swiss metal recycling company based in Kaiseraugst near Basel. Its core business includes recycling iron scrap (FE), non-ferrous metals (NF), e-waste and cars.

Zorba processing with real net output ratio
“Thommen is synonymous with quality. I would like us to be a beacon in the world of recycling,” emphasises the head of the company. In 2015, after the Thommen Group acquired the second super shredder in Switzerland, Tobias Thommen concentrated on the recovery of non-ferrous metals in the shredder heavy fraction and invested in a further processing facility for manufacturing high-grade aluminium, copper, brass, and zinc products. “I aspire to manufacture products such that our customers, i.e. steelworks, copper smelting plants, aluminium smelters or brass foundries, can smelt them straight away. And this requires a purity of close to one hundred percent. The ZAB (Zorba Processing Facility) with STEINERT sorting machines, which went into operation in 2021, has had a huge role to play in this respect.” Zorba is a mix of different proportions of non-ferrous metals. Non-ferrous metal separators, also known as eddy current separators, recover this mix of metals before sensor sorting machines split the metals into pure fractions suitable for smelting works. To improve the efficiency of the sensor sorting machines, the non-ferrous metal concentrates are screened into different grain sizes, namely 0-15 mm, 15-30 mm, 30-60 mm, 60-120 mm and larger than 120 mm. These are then separated into both cast aluminium and wrought aluminium alloys by X-ray transmission, the STEINERT KSS | XT CLI. The system uses fluorescence technology (STEINERT KSS | XF CLI) to produce the pure-grade heavy-metal products. Sensors for colour (C), dimension (L) and induction (I) have been added to each of the two sorting machines at Thommen. This enables even more precise selection criteria to be set for complex and varied sorting jobs and also ensures that the company can flexibly rise up to future sorting challenges.