Finders keepers: metal analyzing instruments can help recyclers find and separate higher-grade materials

Recycling Today, Nov, 2004 by Ben Nagler

"I should have bought one 10 years ago!" That was the reaction of" Bob Weinslein, owner of Bob's Metals Inc., Portland, Ore., when asked to assess the benefits of his metal analyzer.

Bill Fisher, director of U.S. Operations for ELG Metals Inc., McKeesport, Pa, says the several instruments ELG owns are "an integral part of our business. We utilize them every single day to determine whether or not the material is what it's supposed to he and what we are supposed to ship to our end consumer."

Bob's Metals is a one-man operation. ELG is one of the largest stainless steel scrap recyclers in the United States. Not only these two, but also several in-between-sized recyclers, confirm the profit-building value of these instruments.

Perhaps the strongest endorsement came from a California recycler specializing in high-temperature alloys who asked not to be identified. "I don't want it out in the industry what I'm using and how I'm using it. I don't want to tell people how I am sorting things, why I'm sorting it and what my results are with different instruments," he says.

The instruments used by recyclers employ either of two technologies X-ray fluorescence (XRF) or optical-emission systems (OES)--but knowing the details about how they work isn't completely necessary.

FINDING THE "GOODIES." A primary reason metal analyzers are so widely used by recyclers small and large--lies with the various ways in which they help recyclers generate profits.

"In the last couple of years, I've been getting a ton of stainless in and paying a high price ... and I knew some of the lots I was buying had some better alloys in them in the stainless," says Weinstein. "A couple of months ago, I went to an auction for a few hundred thousand pounds of stainless--divvied up into something like 900 lots, all merely called 'stainless.' I was able to go through with my (analyzer), and I picked out higher grades of stainless; I picked out nickel alloys; I picked out cobalt alloys. So it gave me an edge from the standpoint of knowing that maybe 10 percent nickel was in there--something higher than stainless. So, I was able to bid higher than the next guy," he says.

"The other place it helps is with some industrial accounts," Weinstein continues. "Once in a while they have to have a particular material in their shop for working on a finished product; and instead of them sending it out to have it analyzed--to make sure that it's 304 or 316 or whatever--they call me. And I go down there (with my analyzer) and I do it free in the hopes that I keep the account. If someone were to call on them, they might say, 'Bob helps us out. We don't want to talk to anybody else.'"

Joel Denbo of Tennessee Valley Recycling (TVR) in Decatur, Ala., has his own reasons for using analyzers in the yard.

Denbo, who is also chairman of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI), says, "Over my business career, we called it finding the 'goodies.' Our operation is what I'd call generalist. We handle a lot of non-homogeneous type materials. We see all sorts of different things coming in and we need to be able to identify what we have."

TVR used to send material out to independent labs for analysis or use an in-house spectrograph, though time was often a factor, Denbo says. "Being able to have an analyzing piece of equipment available at a minute's n mice is obviously well worthwhile. Also, being able to take the machine to the work instead of the work to the machine is a big advantage," he adds.

"If you handle any significant amount of stainless steel and if you can ferret out the different grades, obviously, it takes you down the right road. It allows you to prove or identify what something is--instead of assuming. Instead of guessing, you know what it is. They're right expensive, but all you have to do is one or two tricks and you've paid for it."

Joel Fogel of Cohen Bros. Inc., Middletown, Ohio, says he uses two different analyzers. "We generally use [one] to differentiate carbon from chrome and the different stainless alloys and nickel alloys ... and the other for pretty much the same purpose--although it likes aluminum and can break it down into 3000, 5000, 6000 and 7000 classes."

With respect to segregating stainless from nickel alloys, Fogel also says: "Nickel alloys, in some cases, are worth $2 to $5 more per pound than stainless ." Analyzers, which can be more reliable than grinders, help spot this key difference. Fogel says the instruments Cohen Bros. has bought "are definitely worth the money that we spent."

While analyzers can help to increase a recycler's profitability in the long run, some recyclers may dwell on the initial investment.

INVESTING IN ANALYSIS. "The cost, probably, is a big stumbling block for a lot of people because they're not cheap--[some are now] in the $30,000 range, I'd imagine," Fogel says of analyzers. "But, if there's enough tonnage generated, and the smaller dealer would be handling a lot of stainless or, potentially, a lot of alloys, the pay off would be rather quick. It would definitely make sense. I would say just don't be afraid of the price tag."