-
Essay / Effects of Metal Recycling - 754
Non-ferrous metals are sorted from any other non-metals that may have gone through the process. In order to separate non-ferrous metals from non-metal residues, an eddy current separator is used. An eddy current separator uses a magnetic drum that throws non-ferrous metals into a separate bin and the non-metals slide down to be disposed of as waste. Once sorting is complete, the metals will go through a cleaning process which will remove all unnecessary substances ensuring high quality of the recycled metal. For example, aluminum metals go through a special cleaning process that will clean off the paint on them, like that from soda cans. This cleaning process uses a composition of acids in a bath to remove paint from pots. The metals are then taken to their own respective furnaces as each of them has different melting points and they are melted down. Then the metals undergo a purification process called the electrolysis process. This process will remove impurities from the metal to improve its overall quality. Once the metals are melted and purified, they are cast, usually into bars and ingots for steel and into sheet metal for aluminum. Subsequently, these ingots and sheets are then distributed to places which will use them, for example an automobile factory which will use these metals for the manufacture of