PE-1

Process Evaluation Section

Materials Recovery from Auto 

Shredder Residue

Problem/Opportunity

U.S. auto shredders generate about 5 million 

tons of auto shredder residue (ASR) annually. 

Similar amounts are generated in Europe and 

in the Pacific Rim. Because of the lack of a 

cost-effective technology to recycle this waste, 

it is mostly landfilled; smaller amounts are 

incinerated. 

Approach

The purpose of this project, sponsored by the 

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and

conducted under a Cooperative Research and 

Development Agreement (CRADA) with the 

Vehicle Recycling Partnership (composed of 

Ford, GM and Daimler-Chrysler) and the

American Plastics Council, was to develop a 

technology to recover recyclable materials

from ASR. Our basic approach was to 

process the ASR as if it was a mineral ore. 

Thus, the ASR is first separated into three 

primary fractions, then recyclable materials 

are recovered from these three fractions. 

Results

Bulk Separation

Bulk separation of the ASR is accomplished 

by using a mechanical separation system that 

includes a unique two-stage trommel

designed at Argonne (Figure 1). Bulk

separation yields a plastics concentrate (about 

45 wt.% of ASR), a polyurethane foam

fraction (about 10 wt.% of ASR) and an oxides 

fraction (about 45 wt.% of ASR). A 2-ton/h 

pilot unit was built and installed at Argonne. 

 

Figure 1. This 2-ton/h bulk separation

system effectively separates ASR into three 

fractions: polyurethane foam, plastics

concentrate, and an oxides fraction. 

Foam Recovery

The polyurethane foam that is recovered from 

the shredder residue contains entrained dirt 

and automotive fluids. Argonne developed 

and patented a process for producing a clean 

polyurethane foam that meets the

requirements of the existing foam “rebond” 

market. A 100-lb/h foam cleaning process 

was built and pilot tested at a shredder site 

(Figure 2). More than 10 tons of cleaned foam 

were recovered and supplied to customers for 

product evaluation. The recovered foam was 

rebonded and used to produce carpet

padding for automotive applications. The 

product met all of the performance

requirements of the rebonders and their

automotive customers. 

The bulk separation technology and the foam 

processing technology developed by Argonne 

have been licensed to Salyp N.V. of Belgium. 

A full-scale commercial demonstration plant 
PE-2

has been built and successfully operated at 

Salyp’s facilities in Ieper, Belgium. 

Figure 2. The foam is cleaned and dried in a 

continuous linear wash, rinse, and dry system. 

The system shown is a 100-lb/h pilot unit. 

Plastic Concentrate 

There are more than 50 different types of

polymers used in automotive applications

today; shredder residue contains all of them as 

well as other classes of polymers that are used 

in metal-bearing scrap (e.g., obsolete

appliances) that the shredder might process. 

Through bench-scale research, we have been 

able to separately recover those plastics that are 

present in the largest volumes and/or have the 

highest potential values. The plastics are

separated by means of a froth-flotation 

technology that we originally developed for

other plastics separations. Polymers that we 

have recovered from shredder residue include 

polyethylene, polypropylene, acrylonitrile

butadiene styrene, high-impact polystyrene,

PVC, EPDM, and nylons.

Oxide Fraction 

The oxide fraction, which includes particles 

measuring less than about 5/8 in., contains 

metal oxides, glass, dirt, and some organics. 

Magnetic separation of the oxide fraction

yielded a high-quality iron oxide that meets the 

feed requirements of the cement industry for 

iron units. During a pilot demonstration at a 

shredder facility, we produced about 50 tons of 

this material to be used for testing by the

cement industry. 

Future Plans

Since the bulk separation technology and the foam 

processing technology developed by Argonne have 

been licensed to Salyp N.V. of Belgium and the fullscale commercial demonstration plant has been

built, Salyp is marketing these technologies through 

franchise operations on a worldwide basis. We are 

continuing to assist Salyp in improving these

technologies, for example, by integrating our

plastics separation technology into their system.