Stemin puts its trust in STEINERT XSS T EVO 5.0 again

Stemin S.p.A., an aluminium recycling specialist from northern Italy, turns scrap metal into high-grade aluminium. Olivo Foglieni, board member of the FECS holding to which Stemin belongs, is once again turning to STEINERT sorting technology. Dry density separation using x-ray transmission (XRT) to produce aluminium ensures exceptional purity and is so reliable and robust that downtime simply isn’t an issue.

Olivo Foglieni is what you might call an industry entrepreneur. Under his management, Stemin has been producing up to 70,000 tonnes of secondary aluminium of the highest quality each year. Once sorted, the aluminium is ready for the furnace – and is passed to the company’s own foundry for further processing.

As Foglieni says in his interview with Steinert: “I’m sure I don't have to explain how important absolute reliability of the x-ray unit and sorting quality is for us. Both are indispensable to ensuring a smooth process between sorting and further use of the aluminium product. Downtimes put the entire supply chain at risk. But our long-standing experience with Steinert proves that this is something we don't need to worry about.”

STEINERT XSS T EVO 5.0 has come with a 4-year warranty since 2020

Stemin mainly processes aluminium profiles and sheets as well as aluminium motor parts, such as crankshaft housings. “Each type of scrap that we work with has its own requirements and it is important for us to separate by input material, magnesium or heavy metals like copper. This is the challenge we face - and always with the goal of increasing the value of the metal,” says Foglieni. For years, Stemin has put its faith in the dependability and operating reliability of STEINERT sorting machines. The company was one of the first to use the “EVO 5.0 generation” and benefit from its competitive edge.

The x-ray source, and XRT sensors in particular, are essential for efficient system operation, and the EVO generation gives Stemin even more longevity. Since the start of 2020, Steinert has offered its customers a 20,000 operating hours warranty on the high-quality x-ray sources, thereby documenting the robustness of the components selected for the EVO generation.

Automatic x-ray monitoring (AXM) and calibration of the x-ray sensors help achieve consistently high detection precision. This results in consistently high levels of detection and sorting quality over the entire life of the x-ray components. One of the challenging tasks performed by Stemin is to reduce the magnesium in the aluminium scrap awaiting processing. This job is performed by Multilayer Data Evaluation (MDE). MDE allows composite objects to be detected and distinguished and permits high-resolution object recognition with the classification of various detection tasks running in parallel at the same time.

Olivo Foglieni can make a direct comparison as he has replaced a total of 4 machines from competitors with Steinert x-ray sorting technology in recent years. “Compared with the others, the biggest difference is how reliable the machines are. We have opted to buy Steinert because of their ongoing research and development in the field of metal recycling, the fact that the quality of their sorting is improving all the time and because their more capable sorting machines help us to produce the quality levels we need. This decision has proven to be the right one,” adds the business leader.

Cooperation and good customer service

In addition to the technical qualities of the STEINERT XSS T EVO 5.0, Foglieni is impressed by the close contact between his company and the STEINERT customer service team. “Reliability in the technology and local support are absolutely essential. We are very happy with the customer service team and our Italian agent, who solves our problems in real time.”

Sorting with x-ray transmission - STEINERT XSS T EVO 5.0

A transmitting procedure detects material-dependent differences in the absorption of x-rays then classifies and uses them for sorting into density classes. The rate of absorption of the x-ray rays depends on the material density of an object. The larger the atomic mass the more radiation will be absorbed. Detection is followed by separation of the determined metal from the others in the flow of materials.