Date of Award

12-2020

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Departmental Honors

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Abstract

Western Metals Recycling (WMR), a subsidiary of NUCOR Steel, is a metals recycling company with a location in Plymouth, Utah. At Plymouth, a 50 NT/hr. non-ferrous recovery plant uses eddy current technology to generate a non-ferrous product called zorba. Zorba is a mix of aluminum, copper, brass, zinc, printed circuit boards, coins, lead, and the like. (Figure 1) The market value of zorba varies but generally ranges from $0.30 to $0.50 per pound. The value of the coins (not including pennies) is much higher than zorba price. The team's objective is to upgrade and optimize the existing trommel equipment to sort the zorba into coin-sized denominations with greater than 90% accuracy.

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Faculty Mentor

Spencer Wendel

Departmental Honors Advisor

Joel Ellsworth