Sandvik Coromant Launches Carbide Recycling Program with Australian Heavy Equipment Manufacturer
Sandvik Coromant’s recycling initiative recovers tungsten from 17 tonnes of used carbide inserts, reprocessing them in Austria to create new tools and reduce reliance on virgin materials.
www.sandvik.coromant.com
Metalworking and manufacturing solutions expert Sandvik Coromant is supporting one of the largest specialist heavy equipment manufacturers in Australia, with its tool recycling scheme. Sandvik Coromant is collecting worn carbide inserts and carbide buttons used within high pressure grinding rollers (HPGRs), which will be recycled to produce new tools.
Sandvik Coromant has worked with this equipment manufacturer to supply carbide inserts for over a decade. Now, the companies are working together to collect the used inserts as a means to improve material circularity across the supply chain.
As well as its design and consultancy offering, the company manufactures a range of industrial components from gearboxes and slew bearings, to mill and kiln parts and crushers, including custom rollers for HPGRs. These particular rollers are used for rock crushing and size reduction and compress the feed material between two rotating rollers. The crushing plates are implemented with over 1,000 carbide buttons, or studs, to aid the crushing of the rocks.
Sandvik Coromant’s carbide recycling scheme enables customers to sell their worn-out tools back to Sandvik Coromant, allowing valuable materials such as tungsten and cobalt to be extracted and reused in the production of new cutting tools.
Across the customer’s facility, Sandvik Coromant has installed huge metal drums, which are used to collect the worn carbide inserts and buttons. In total, the company has provided Sandvik Coromant with 17 tonnes of material so far.
Once collected, the inserts and buttons are shipped to Sandvik Coromant’s Wolfram facility in Austria, where they undergo chemical processing to turn them back into the carbide powder that’s used to produce new machine tools. The reclaimed powder undergoes chemical purification, recovering materials with the same properties as tungsten originally extracted from the Wolfram mine.
“Recycling is an integral part of modern manufacturing,” said Manny Valenza, Sales Cluster Manager for Southeast Asia at Sandvik Coromant. “95% of a used carbide insert can be recycled, with tungsten making up around 75% of the material. As tungsten reserves are limited, it’s even more essential to preserve this vital material while minimising its environmental impact.
“The closed-loop manufacturing process we’ve created is a win-win for both our customers and for the environment. By recovering valuable materials from used tools, we’re closing the loop on production waste, reducing the need for virgin materials and creating a more sustainable future for the manufacturing industry.”
To learn more about Sandvik Coromant’s carbid.
www.sandvik.coromant.com
