Weima reports uptick in briquetter business

Fort Mill, South Carolina-based Weima America says it has seen an uptick in requests from the North American market for its briquette presses, with buyers finding them to be part of a solution to control dust.

Dust can be a dangerous part of any paper operation, and is tightly monitored by regulatory agencies, says the company. Dust, a natural byproduct that is produced when paper is cut, can be flammable.

Canada-based dust control equipment maker Kernic Systems recently placed a Weima C-150 briquette press in a customer’s operation to control dust stemming from its document destruction operations. The information management company shreds approximately 10 tons per hour of paper.

The briquette press has been integrated directly into the paper dust collection system. “The strategic placement of the briquette press allows the dust recovery system to be fully automated, eliminating the need for conventional manual labor-intensive drum collection,” says John Jurk, vice president of Kernic Systems. Jurk says his client is now processing approximately 50 pounds of paper dust each hour, on two shifts each day.

Another briquetter installation has taken place at Classic Graphics, a printer located in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company added a larger shredding system to shred all paper scrap generated at the site, including books, pamphlets and paper signage.

The material is shredded and fed into a baler. The dust created during the shredding process is extracted by the air system and pneumatically conveyed to the briquette press, which is located behind the facility.

Before the briquette press was installed, the dust discharged into a dust cart with a curtain wrap. This cart had to be emptied several times each week manually, which Weima says was both messy and time-consuming.

After the cart was swapped out, the crew would have to clean up all dust and debris that landed around the machine. This wasn’t sustainable or efficient, according to Weima.

Now that the dust collector feeds directly into the briquette press, the mess is contained and the labor hours it took to clean around the building are no longer required.

Tom Hicks, a systems integrator with Maryland-based equipment vendor Balers and Stuff Inc., worked with Classic Graphics to plan and finalize the addition of both the Weima shredder and the briquette press into the busy printing operation.

“I was proud to partner with the Classic Graphics and Weima teams to integrate a shredder and briquetting press with the existing air conveying and baling system,” says Hicks. “The overall process provides for efficient and cost-effective handling of the recyclable paper waste stream.”

Classic Graphics also has found the air quality in the plant around the baler and shredder area has improved. The shredder runs only during first shift, but the baler and briquette press run simultaneously throughout all three shifts, six days each week. Once briquettes are made from the dust, they are discharged into a Gaylord box, which is then placed on a truck for recycling.

“I’m very pleased to date with the briquette press,” says Bob LeVan, technical services manager with Classic Graphics. “It took a while for the recycling crew to get this purchase approved, and we certainly feel we made the right decision to have it done.”