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Don Suderman on Industry Trends and Bunting’s High Frequency Eddy Current Separator
For this blog, we are excited to be sharing a conversation with our recycling equipment expert, Don Suderman. Don has been with Bunting since 1982, and served as the Manager of Design Engineering, then the Director of Technical Services prior to his current role as the Material Handling Product Manager for Recycling Equipment. Don took the time to share some of his thoughts about the challenges of the recycling industry, current industry trends, and Bunting’s latest High Frequency Eddy Current Separator.
Q: Don, what piece of Bunting equipment are you most excited about right now?
A: 
Well, I have to say, I’m very excited about Bunting’s new High Frequency Eddy Current Separator. For me, one of the highlights of 2021 was announcing this piece of equipment for the auto recycling, plastic PET and film, and ICW wire recovery industries. Our High Frequency Eddy Current Separator provides some of the highest separation and throwing forces in the industry, and it offers significantly improved separation of small metal particles from plastics and other materials.
Q: That’s very exciting! Would you say this is a product that the recycling industry has been waiting for?
A: Absolutely. Today, one of the biggest challenges metal recyclers are facing is how difficult It can be to separate and remove smaller and smaller particles of valuable metals from waste streams. One of the worst things is knowing that valuable metals like copper and aluminum are being sent to landfills because conventional eddy current separators haven’t been successful at removing them. Some recyclers have tried using technologies like robotic removal and conduction separation, but even though these technologies are touted as the way of the future, they still can’t effectively remove very small metal particles. Rather than trying to invent a completely new technology, we decided to reexamine our current eddy current separators and try to improve them. This line of thinking paid off, as our new High Frequency Eddy Current Separator delivers exceptional performance, particularly when it comes to removing very small—but very valuable—particles of metals such as copper and aluminum.
Q: You’ve mentioned copper and aluminum several times. Are these two of the most in-demand metals right now?
A: Absolutely. Prices for copper and aluminum have significantly increased over the past year, and I certainly expect this trend to continue. Because the payback for these metals is so much greater than what it used to be, eddy current separators are in much higher demand. To gain the most profit, recyclers are wanting to recover as much of these materials as they possibly can. Otherwise, not only will they be losing profits, but they will also be paying money to deposit more material in a landfill—the opposite of good business.
Q: That all sounds great, Don. Is the High Frequency Eddy Current Separator currently on the floor of Bunting’s Customer Experience Center?
A: Yes, it is! In fact, we were just recently running some tests on it for one of our customers. For readers who might not be familiar, at Bunting’s Customer Experience Center we perform extensive testing of materials our potential customers send us. Then, we provide them with detailed results including video that show exactly how their material works with our equipment, and the exact rate of separation we are able to achieve.
Q: And that’s free of charge, correct?
A: Correct. If you are interested in seeing how your material works with our High Frequency Eddy Current Separator, or any of our other equipment, our engineers are always excited to receive new samples of material to test.
Q: That sounds great, Don. Thank you so much for speaking with me today.
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