South Carolina-based RePower South (RPS) has begun construction of the Berkeley County Recycling and Recovery Facility, which will be the most advanced Mixed Waste Processing facility on the East Coast.The turnkey recovery system will be provided by Bulk Handling Systems (BHS) under an engineering procurement and construction (EPC) agreement with Barnhill Contracting Company. When production begins in early 2019, the Moncks Corner, South Carolina plant will process 50 tons-per-hour of mixed waste sourced from Berkeley Countyto recover recycled commodities and a fuel feedstock. Advanced technology, including NRT optical sorters and Max-AI® Autonomous QCs (AQCs) will enable the system to runwith minimal manual sorters.
RPS partners with communities to maximize recycling recovery and landfill diversion at the lowest overall cost. China’s National Sword policyhas left many communities contemplating how to best managerecycling with some areasin the US currently landfilling papers, plastics and valuable commodities that had previously been recycled.The RPS facility is designed tomaximize value from the County’s mixed waste stream by recovering all recyclables rather than only those placed in a recycling bin. Beyond recycling, the facility is able to recover non-recyclablepapers and plastics for production of ReEngineered Feedstock™, a high quality, low carbon renewable fuel sold to industry, cement, and utility customers to replace coalin production processes.
“This system allows us to cost effectively increase a community’s recycling as well as produce a low carbon, clean fuel from waste that is typically landfilled,” said RPS President Bob Shepard. “BHS systems are a critical component of our ability to offer a better, more cost effective solution to manage a community’s waste disposal. We are very excited to bring this solution to the citizens of Berkeley County, SC and are grateful to the leadership of Berkeley County for selecting RPS and systems partners, BHS and Loesche Energy Systems.”
The system requires minimal manual sorters per shift yet will create products of the highest quality thanks to the recent technological advances from BHS companies. The BHS FiberPure™ system, consisting of BHS screens, NRT optical sorters and Max-AI AQCs remove contaminants to produce a clean end product without the need for manual sorters. The non-recyclable fibers and plastics destined for fuel undergo further purification byNRT SpydIR® optical sorters equipped with MetalDirector™ options to remove unwanted contaminants. Max-AI AQCs are also utilized in each sorting position on the container line. In total, the system contains seven NRT optical sorters and nine Max-AI AQCs, dramatically minimizing the need for sort labor.
“With NRT optical and Max-AI technology, we have an almost unlimited degree of flexibility to create a wide variety of high qualityproducts to serve multiple markets,” Shepard said. “The technology will maximize the recovery and quality of those products and with Max-AI technology there’s no real need to exposepeople to this work during the QC process.”
In conjunction with BHS and RPS’s fuel system partner, Loesche Energy Systems, the fuel system will deploy the most efficient and technologically advanced equipment, including a Loesche Rocket Mill for size reduction. The system also features two Kadant PAAL balers. Kadant PAAL balers claim nearly half the market share in Europe, and were introduced to North America last year through an exclusive relationship with BHS. A PAAL Konti500 bales all commodities headed to the secondary market, including ferrous, aluminum, cardboard, paper, and plastics and fuelis baled by a PAAL Dokon 500.
“RePower South is showing that it is possible today to help communities increase recycling with the existing waste stream while also providing the flexibility to adjust to any market condition or opportunity,” said BHS CEO Steve Miller. “The system is built to run with low operating costs over multiple shifts and has the ability to adjust its outputs to meet market conditions. The waste stream in Berkeley County is a resource which can be fully managed, and BHS is excited to help make it happen.”
