Sustainable Development Goals
PROJECT INFORMATION AT A GLANCE:
Project Status:
Operating commercial reference
Organizations Involved:
Klean Industries, Sims Ltd, Sims Metal, Ebara Corporation, EEP, EDC
Services / Equipment:
Due Diligence Services, Feasibility Studies, Packaged Solutions, Component Supply
The value in a scrapped vehicle does not end with the first recovery of steel and other metals. This Japanese reference shows how the difficult residue left behind can support electricity generation, further metal recovery and saleable mineral products—extending the commercial reach of the recycling operation.
The automotive shredder residue gasification facility combines fluidized-bed treatment with ash melting. Klean’s published reference describes up to 20 tonnes per hour across two process lines, with 17 MW of electrical generation capacity. Electricity serves the operator’s own plants and supplies surplus power to the grid, while separate recovery routes return metals and minerals to industry.
Klean used this customer-owned and operated facility as the basis for Detailed Feasibility Study work with Sims Metal Recycling in Canada and the United Kingdom. The assignment connected an established industrial reference with the practical opportunity to recover more value from shredder residues in other markets.
The Challenge
Recover what conventional shredding leaves behind
Vehicle and appliance recycling recovers substantial quantities of metal. The remaining shredder residue is a more difficult mixture: plastics, rubber, foam, textiles, glass, mineral matter and residual metals. Its varied composition makes further recovery challenging, even though useful materials and energy remain within it.
For a recycling business, this residue creates a second commercial problem after the principal metals have been sold. It still needs handling, transport and a destination. Landfill consumes space and incurs disposal costs while the residual resource value remains unused.
Japan’s limited landfill capacity made the opportunity especially relevant. The development challenge was to create an industrial recovery system that could handle a heterogeneous feed and connect its outputs with real customers.
The reference facility addressed that challenge as part of an existing recycling network. Its documented supply base included residue from five shredder plants processing vehicles and electrical appliances, together with two non-ferrous separation plants. A shared downstream facility could therefore extend the recovery capability of several upstream operations.
The Solution
Give different parts of the residue different recovery routes
The process uses an atmospheric-pressure fluidized-bed gasifier followed by a high-temperature cyclonic combustion and ash-melting stage. The first stage separates recoverable metals and larger non-combustible particles from the combustible material and entrained fines. The next stage uses the combustible stream’s energy to generate heat and transform fine mineral material into a vitrified product.
This arrangement is central to the project’s value. The system combines metal separation, energy recovery and mineral treatment, giving different fractions of the incoming residue a useful destination. Heat recovery and the steam-power cycle turn the energy content into electricity, supported by integrated flue-gas treatment and residue management.
The two process lines are each described in Klean’s reference as 40 MW thermal. That thermal rating defines the treatment scale; the separate 17 MW electrical rating defines the generation capacity.
Fit the plant to an established residue supply
Shredder residue meeting the gasifier’s particle-size specification can enter without an additional preparation stage. This connects the plant directly with suitable material already produced by the upstream shredding operations.
The operating reference also describes co-treatment of mechanically dewatered sewage sludge at rates of up to 30% of the shredder-residue flow, together with experience processing selected additional feedstocks, including waste plastics. This provides a reference for assessing complementary feed streams within a defined processing system.
For replication, the commercial opportunity begins with the actual feedstock available: its quantity, composition, moisture, residual metal content and energy value. Those characteristics determine the plant configuration and the balance between energy production, recovered materials and final residues.
Connect recovery with the industries that use the outputs
Ferrous metals return to the scrap industry. Copper, aluminium and stainless steel provide further metal-market outlets. The vitrified mineral product is processed into aggregate for asphalt filler. Zinc-rich filter ash follows a separate recovery route through the zinc industry.
The last connection is particularly valuable: a collected ash stream can become feedstock for another industrial recovery process. Its composition, handling and receiving specification form part of that route. Together, these outlets make the facility a link between automotive recycling, electricity supply, metal processing and construction materials.
The Outcome
Five useful outputs from a difficult mixed residue
The Japanese reference demonstrates integrated commercial treatment of shredder residue with several productive destinations. Klean reports the following recovery routes:
| Recovered output | Destination | Commercial contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity | Operator’s plants and the grid | Internal energy use and surplus-power sales |
| Ferrous metals | Scrap industry | Further metal recovery after initial shredding |
| Copper, aluminium and stainless steel | Metal markets | Recovery of residual saleable metals |
| Vitrified mineral aggregate | Asphalt filler applications | A construction-material outlet for the mineral fraction |
| Zinc-rich filter ash | Zinc industry | A specialist recovery route for a collected ash stream |
The documented early operating record includes treatment of more than 180,000 tonnes of shredder residue and 30,000 tonnes of sewage sludge. These cumulative quantities establish a substantial commercial reference for the integrated process.
The business significance is broader than the electricity plant alone. Recovery can reduce the quantity requiring final disposal while generating outputs that have defined industrial uses. Electricity supports the recycling network’s own operations; materials return to established markets. The quality and value of each output contribute to the economics of the whole facility.
Translate operating experience into a project that fits its market
Klean’s work with Sims assessed replication in Canada and the United Kingdom. The Japanese facility supplied an operating reference for the process and recovery routes; the feasibility work examined how that approach could fit a different commercial and project setting.
That is the transferable lesson for shredder operators and infrastructure investors. An effective development connects the residue supply with treatment capacity, energy use, product specifications and receiving markets. It also defines the remaining disposal requirement. Klean brings those elements into a structured assessment before major capital commitments.
Klean offers a licensable ASR recovery approach supported by this commercial reference and experience evaluating its application internationally. The opportunity is to extend an existing recycling business into the value still present in its residual stream.
1. Look beyond the first metal recovery step. The reference returns additional ferrous and non-ferrous metals to market while recovering energy and useful mineral material from the remaining residue.
2. Design the plant around its product destinations. Power users, scrap buyers, aggregate outlets and zinc processors each play a different part in the commercial model. The recovery route is complete when the output meets its receiving market’s requirements.
3. Use operating evidence to shape replication. The Japanese reference and Klean’s Sims feasibility work connect industrial experience with project development. Feedstock, disposal economics, energy demand and local product markets determine how the opportunity transfers.
These are selected achievements and lessons. Further technical and commercial insights are available through an engagement with Klean.
WHAT DO THESE LESSONS MEAN FOR YOUR PROJECT?
For a shredder operator, vehicle recycler or infrastructure investor, the starting point is the material currently leaving the recycling process. Klean can assess annual residue volumes, representative analyses, disposal arrangements, energy demand and potential markets for recovered products.
New equipment projects follow Detailed Equipment Quotation (DEQ) → Detailed Feasibility Study (DFS) → Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED). The engagement package outlines the work; the paid DEQ proposal provides the preliminary technical and commercial basis. Existing-operation audits and advisory assignments are scoped to their objectives.
Discuss Your Automotive Shredder Residue Recovery Project >> GO.
ABOUT THE INFORMATION PRESENTED
This case study combines selected information from a customer-owned Japanese operating reference with Klean’s feasibility and project-development experience. Published capacities and cumulative throughput retain their reference basis. Detailed technical records, licensing arrangements and project-specific commercial information are addressed within an agreed engagement and appropriate confidentiality arrangements.
This case connects with Goals 7, 9, 12, 13 and 15 through energy recovery, industrial infrastructure and improved use of materials. Its central contribution is a more complete recovery system for residues remaining after vehicle and appliance recycling.
