Levitated Metals transforms Zorba into high-quality, valued Twitch with low magnesium and iron content.
The product's wrought aluminum downcycled into cast aluminum was viewed as a missed opportunity for Levitated. The recycler wanted to further process the material into recycled aluminum alloys valued by many wrought rolling mills. It was a step that required a new, technology provided by TOMRA's AUTOSORT PULSE.
Levitated Metals formed in 2019 and constructed its Zorba processing plant. The subsidiary of Mervis Industries, Danville, Ill., operates a wet heavy media plant, using a two-stage flotation process to generate Twitch from a Zorba feedstock for its domestic and international aluminum smelter customers.
Leveraging Dynamic LIBS
This next evolutionary step for Levitated required a technology that, until recently, did not exist. One that gives the recycler an elemental breakdown of what the sensor detects. One that could determine the specific aluminum alloy at high throughput and with incredible accuracy.
In 2024, TOMRA and WENDT worked with Levitated to understand the company's vision and determine the best solution for the recycler.
"Through our discussions, it became clear Levitated was searching for laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technology in a sorter," said Giuseppe Granara, head of sales, metals recycling Americas for TOMRA Recycling. "We had recently introduced our AUTOSORT PULSE, a technology leveraging Dynamic LIBS for high-precision sorting of aluminum scrap by alloy types."
Ronak Shah, president of Levitated Metals arranged for a test of Levitated's Twitch in WENDT's metals Test Center, in Buffalo, N.Y., which includes the latest and most advanced metal sorting technology and equipment available. Having the capability of testing Levitated's feed material by the AUTOSORT PULSE in WENDT's facility, along with the expert consultancy and impressive test results, was a game changer.
"It played an important role in our decision to invest in the equipment," said Shah.
Generational Technology
With AUTOSORT PULSE offering comprehensive elemental breakdown of what is seen, Shah considers the technology as a once-in-a-generation style machine. Extraction by alloy type is the next evolutionary step for aluminum recycling.
"It changed the economics for extracting most non-ferrous metals in the 1980s by offering a reliable, low-maintenance method of processing," said Shah.
Previous transformational technologies struggled to offer a true representation of what was on the belt.
"Wet heavy media does its job sorting out aluminum, and the eddy current ejects only aluminum to remove other contaminants," continued Shah. "X-ray helps to further process and remove aluminum with contamination. (Dynamic) LIBS gives us an absolute look at what was detected by the sensor, at high volume and high speed. It is so accurate that we had to find better ways of evaluating product being fed into AUTOSORT PULSE."
Staying Flexible
Supporting domestic manufacturing of beverage can sheet aluminum with domestic recycled feedstock was Levitated's primary business case for investing in the AUTOSORT PULSE.
"We planned to do something many wrought rolling mills were asking for — extract wrought from Zorba, since there is an enormous supply of Zorba," said Shah. They were targeting alloy recovery like 3104 and 3105 aluminum for beverage can production.
Policy shifts, made extracting such alloys from Zorba economically unfeasible. This unexpected turn added a layer of complexity for Levitated's plans.
"We leveraged our 30-plus years of metals recycling experience to partner with Levitated to ensure their success," said Granara. "Since TOMRA develops our technology and algorithms in-house, we were able to adapt the machine's programming to extract high-value wrought and cast items from the feedstock."
Today, Levitated's AUTOSORT⢠PULSE has been programmed to extract high-value 5052 and 6063 alloy. These are small components of the Twitch feed but highly prized material by wrought rolling mills. Levitated runs the machine 24 hours a day to extract these materials.
"With flexibility, innovation and willingness to adapt, we developed markets that were needed to make it a success. We and the industry are only getting to the beginning of what can be done through this type of elemental inspection," concluded Shah.
