Brown Recycling supercharges waste-to-fuel production with UNTHA ZR

The Stoke-on-Trent based waste management firm has used UNTHA shredding technology within its alternative fuel production plant for over a decade.

But following the launch of the new ZR pre-shredder, last Autumn, Browns will switch out its trusty XR, after 11 years of operational service.

The new machine will process the same variety of input materials - a multifaceted mix of commercial, industrial and other bulky wastes - transforming them into a 200mm fuel for UK Waste to Energy conversion.

But following extensive on-site trials, Browns has discovered it can increase its throughputs by up to 30%, thanks to UNTHA’s ongoing innovation.

“We’ve always been impressed with what we can achieve with our shredders,” commented Browns’ managing director Rod Brown. “And the firm’s constant commitment to pushing new boundaries has continued to support the evolution of our business.

“We were early adopters of UNTHA’s Waste to Energy equipment, for example, back in the early 2010s, running the XR as a primary shredder and the former TR as a secondary shredder, to produce a highly refined SRF fraction. As the RDF side of our business has grown, we’ve continued to rely heavily on the XR - in fact, it’s probably completed over 18,000 hours of service for us! But when the ZR came out we thought we’d see what we could achieve with this new technology.”

The two-shaft UNTHA ZR2400 has been fitted with the H waste table, to best suit Browns’ RDF set-up.

“This is a low speed, high torque machine, with bi-directional shaft rotation, which means the cutters grab, shear and liberate in forward and reverse. The result is a continuous operation - Browns will always be shredding!” added UNTHA UK’s managing director Marcus Brew.

“We’re really impressed that the ZR comes with the same electric drive - and therefore the same power savings - that we’re used to,” concluded Rod. “You don’t traditionally expect this performance from a two-shaft machine.”