Explosion Safety in recycling plants

Immark is exploring new horizons

Everyone is talking about Explosion Safety and the associated effects in conventional production plants. It’s also an important issue in other areas. One of them is the recycling industry where, during the separation, shredding and processing of combustible materials explosion-prone dusts are created.

The Immark AG developed a new recycling plant, which was recently awarded the 2017 Swiss Recycling Award. By using this system, it is possible to avoid the incineration of the complete cartridges, if the toner cartridges are delivered to Immark AG.

The new Immark AG (Switzerland) toner recycling plant has a processing capacity of 1500 tonnes per year, and is therefore capable of recycling the toner cartridges of the entire Swiss market. The biggest challenge in the development of the new system was managing the potential for dust explosions, caused by airborne dust particles. In order to avoid an explosion, an inert agent has been used which is constantly introduced into the shredder of the system. In addition, a device for a flameless venting (Q-Box) was installed below the shredder, in order to enhance the holistic and sustainable protection concept. If, therefore, an ignition source is created despite the inert agent, the explosion vent of the Q-Box will open and the stainless-steel mesh filter will absorb the flame and pressure of the explosion, so that both the system, its environment, and above all the employees, are protected in the best possible manner. In this situation, a simple explosion vent wasn’t sufficient, since the system is installed in a building of the Immark AG, and therefore neither the flames nor the pressure of a possible explosion can be relieved into the environment.

After shredding, the toner cartridges are transported into a screen through a screw conveyor. There, the toner-intermediate mixture is sieved off and filled into BigBags. The other components are then passed on to other systems, e.g. metal recycling.

The goal of Immark AG was “recycling instead of incineration”, which was made possible with this system. With a view on profitability and the safety of employees, everything could be realised at the same time, thanks to the innovative Explosion Safety concept.