Momentum of Western New York, a recently launched recycling company, anticipates the facility will be fully operational in the third quarter of 2023.

Momentum of Western New York, a recently launched recycling company, has announced plans to develop a $3.3 million material recovery facility in Steuben County, New York, that will specialize in windmill blade recycling.

As reported by The Evening Tribune, Momentum will be taking over the windmill recycling operation of T&R Environmental—a sister company based in Bath, New York. According to Momentum Owner Brian Polmateer, the company’s recycling operation “will make the industry more environmentally sustainable and help reduce space shortages in landfills.”

“Even here in Stueben County, we’re going to hit a cap very quickly,” he told The Evening Tribune. “We routinely receive phone calls from other states and local manufacturers that they have zero landfill [space]. We could see a serious need for recycling [and] waste minimization.”

Related articles: GE Renewable Energy and LafargeHolcim to explore wind turbine recycling possibilities | Wind turbines pose recycling challenge

Momentum is currently working with the state Department of Environmental Conservation to obtain a Part 360 permit, which governs solid waste management. Permitted waste streams at the facility will include nonhazardous liquids, sludges, soils and solids, as well as nonhazardous absorbents. The facility will not be permitted to accept hazardous wastes.

“It’s essentially being brought in, processed in different variations and then shipped back out,” says Polmanteer.

“It sounds like we might be one of the first ones in the country to write policy and protocol for windmill blades,” he adds.

Construction is expected to start in October, reports The Evening Tribune, and Momentum anticipates the new facility will be fully operational in the third quarter of 2023, likely by September. Three jobs at T&R Environmental are being reallocated to Momentum, which is also hiring for 12 new positions.

Momentum has an agreement under consideration with the Steuben County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) for tax incentives to aid the project. The agreement will be subject to a public hearing before the IDA votes on final approval later this month.

“It’s exciting to work with a company that is on the cutting edge of this technology,” IDA Executive Director Jamie Johnson told The Evening Tribune. “We’re hopeful as the technology and company evolve, they’ll continue to grow in our community.”

The BNEF research arm of Bloomberg sees EV and alternative energy demands straining nonferrous metal supplies.

Two reports produced by the BloombergNEF (BNEF) research business unit of that global company point to nonferrous metal markets destined to be short of supply for the next decade or more.

Although mining capacity is a key focus of the report on copper and a second one on battery metals (cobalt, lithium and nickel), the forecast points to ongoing high prices for recyclers and continued investment in nonferrous metals recycling capacity.

A mid-August Bloomberg summary of the copper report starts off by stating, “The world may have to rely on new recycling technologies to prevent shortages of copper as the shift toward clean energy supercharges demand for the wiring metal.”

The report says Sung Choi and fellow analysts at BNEF are forecasting annual copper demand as being “set to expand 53 percent to 2040, mainly driven by the electrification of transport and infrastructure.”

On the supply side, the BNEF analysts say primary supply might increase just 16 percent thanks to the difficulty of expanding existing copper mines or creating new ones. Narrowing a projected shortfall of from 5 million to 14 million metric tons by 2040 mgiht be a lot to ask of recyclers.

However, access to the red metal already could be driving increased investments in copper recycling in nations with developed economies. Recycled-content copper investments underway in the United States include those by Igneo Technologies LLC in Savannah, Georgia; the Aurubis AG facility in Augusta, Georgia; a plant in Shelbyville, Kentucky, being built by the Wieland Group; and the Ames Copper recycled-content anode plant in Shelby, North Carolina.

Bloomberg quotes the BNEF analysts as writing, “Investing in technologies related to recycling, lowering costs and improving recovery rates from low-grade deposits could help bring new copper supply online to meet growing demand.”

On its website, BNEF also hosts a late July blog post titled, “Race to Net Zero: The Pressures of the Battery Boom in Five Charts.” As with copper, BNEF points to “soaring demand [that] comes up against supply constraints” for battery metals including cobalt, lithium, manganese and nickel. “Lithium, nickel and manganese could all see technical supply deficits this year."

BNEF adds, “Raw materials availability is the biggest constraint for the production of lithium carbonate and hydroxide [and] the lithium industry could struggle to meet growing demand from electric vehicles (EVs) unless new projects are ramped up quickly over the next two years."

Harvesting lithium from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries has been one of the most active investment sectors for several years. One recent investment in the sector in Kentucky entails $310 million initially, with the potential to grow to $1 billion.

The analysts also say if cobalt is a bottleneck, nickel could be eyed as a substitute material. “Cobalt use in lithium-ion batteries has evolved over the last three years as a result of the higher prices recorded in 2018 and the ethical concerns automakers have around supply from artisanal miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” says Kwasi Ampofo of BNEF. “These concerns have resulted in a shift to less cobalt-intensive battery chemistries or those without cobalt.”

That, too, would likely require recycling investments, as most nickel currently goes into stainless steel and is recycled back to stainless steel at mills around the world. Nevada-based Aqua Metals is among several companies piloting technology to make nickel sulfate from spent batteries.

While not mentioning recycling specifically in the blog post, BNEF writes, “As demand for EV batteries grows, countries are racing to become more self-sufficient and build their own domestic supply chains.”

Scrap recycling firm acquires Saginaw, Michigan-based B. Clinkston & Sons.

Padnos has announced the acquisition of Saginaw, Michigan-based B. Clinkston & Sons Inc., saying the move will expand its recycling footprint in the Wolverine State.

Padnos, based in Holland, Michigan, describes B. Clinkston & Sons as a third-generation family-owned company that was founded in 1915. The acquiring company was founded in 1905 by Louis Padnos and now has 26 locations in Michigan and Indiana.

“The work that Steve Clinkston has done to build on the legacy of his family’s business is admirable,” Padnos President and CEO Jonathan Padnos says. “Clinkston is a highly reputable scrap business and a pillar in the Saginaw community. We are proud to join forces and continue the positive impact in the Tri-Cities area. This move furthers our regional consolidation and is the next step in our growth strategy.”

Padnos recycles ferrous and nonferrous metals, end-of-life vehicles, paper, plastics and electronics.

Both companies are key players in the commonwealth’s metals industry, which employs more than 25,000 Kentuckians.

Trinity Metals, Indianapolis and Giampaolo Group, a metals recycling and management company based in Brampton, Ontario, are contributing $30,000 to the flood relief efforts of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels (HOKC).  

“Trinity Metals Foundation is honored to work with the Giampaolo Group and their amazing Foundation to support the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels,” says Wade Conner, CEO of recycling firm Trinity Metals. “The commonwealth of Kentucky has always been an important part of our success and it is only fitting that we support the flood relief efforts.”   

According to a news release from Trinity, both companies are key players in the commonwealth’s metals industry, which employs more than 25,000 Kentuckians. Giampaolo recently invested in two recycled-content aluminum production facilities in Kentucky.

Trinity has long-standing business relationships with many manufacturers and recycling companies across the state. This April, the company foundation contributed to tornado-related emergency relief in Kentucky.

“The Giampaolo Foundation and Group is vested with the commonwealth and its residents through our new flagship manufacturer, Matalco in Franklin and Shelbyville,” says Chris Galifi, CEO of Giampaolo Group. “We want to support where our employees, our most valued resource, live. Kentucky has really taken a one-two punch since December, and we see that HOKC has the history, impact and foresight to use these funds where they are most desperately needed.” 

Lars Arnold of Volvo answers common questions about battery-electric compact wheel loaders.

As electric compact wheel loaders (CWLs) begin hitting the market, those who are not early adopters understandably have questions. Do these CWLs have the same power as their diesel equivalents? Will charging ruin the flow of my workday? What about maintenance?

You might be surprised by some of the answers.

The more power you can put into your electric machine, the faster it will charge. Think of it like filling your vehicle with a fuel pump versus a gas can.

For optimal charging time, it’s strongly recommended to have a 240-volt, 32-amp Level 2 AC-charging setup that uses an SAE J1772 charging adapter or J plug. If this terminology is new to you, don’t be intimidated. This is the same setup recommended for electric cars, and 240 volts is what many household appliances run on. While you can use a 120-volt outlet, charging will take longer.

A 240-volt, Level 2 AC setup will charge a Volvo L25 Electric CWL in six hours from empty to full. A common household 120-volt outlet will do the job in 24 hours.

Options like off-board fast chargers and solar-powered chargers also are available. AC Level 2 charging is best for battery life, but it’s all about a user’s needs. Of course, research and development will provide a wider range of charging options in the coming months and years. As electric vehicles continue to roll out into the market, improved charging infrastructure will follow suit.

What I would not suggest is charging with a gas-powered generator because that goes against the goal of this machine: to be more environmentally friendly.

This is tough to answer because a compact wheel loader can be used in so many ways. The differences in job site applications significantly can alter how long the batteries last.

I recommend that you charge the batteries whenever you have a pause in your workday (e.g., over lunch). Because we use lithium-ion batteries, they have no memory effect (a reduction in the longevity of a rechargeable battery's charge related to incomplete discharge in previous uses). Therefore, you can top them off during a break and continue working throughout the afternoon or evening.

It’s also best practice to charge from mid-level to full, as opposed to draining the battery completely before recharging. When you charge from 30 percent or 40 percent back up to 80 percent or 100 percent, it’s better for the overall life of the battery. These aren’t the lead-acid or nickel-cadmium batteries used in early versions of electric power tools that were affected by the memory effect. With those batteries, if you didn’t charge them properly, they became useless after a short time. Lithium-ion batteries are more advanced and more forgiving, so it’s fine to charge them back to full whenever the opportunity arises.

For example, I’ve seen customers doing heavy applications that include cutting, grading and large workloads who have worked through the morning and needed a quick charge at lunch. Meanwhile, customers who use the machine intermittently or in lighter applications have found that it can last longer. From our testing, the reported work time is four to six hours, depending on the application.

Another tip is to not run at full throttle all the time because you don’t often need the excessive power. Run in an appropriate rpm range to get the work done without slowing down.

No. Volvo electric CWLs come with auto electric motor shut down. If an operator stops running the machine, the electric motor turns off almost immediately. And to get working again, the electric motor turns on instantly and provides immediate power.

With diesel equipment, operating time is defined by engine runtime, and many of those hours are counted while the machine is idle. Given that, jobs that can rack up 10,000 hours on a diesel machine might only add 6,000 or 7,000 hours to a comparable electric machine. These saved hours lower operating costs and in turn lower total cost of ownership. They help improve resale value, too.

Another benefit is that the lighting on Volvo electric machines (rotating beacons, work lights, travel lights, etc.) are LED, so they’re very low power consumers. This helps extend battery life for the toughest projects.

Some people jump to the conclusion that an electric machine will be inferior to a diesel machine in some way—usually power. But I can assure you that’s not the case at all.

In fact, in addition to maintaining (or in some instances exceeding) the power of comparable diesel models, electric construction equipment offers even more advantages compared with its diesel counterparts.

When it comes to power and performance, the Volvo L25 Electric CWL specifications are nearly identical to its diesel counterpart. One exception is a marginally higher operating weight and a higher static tipping load compared with the diesel model.

We’re not initially offering a high-speed version of this machine to better maintain the battery during a full workday. The maximum speed of the L25 electric wheel loader is set at 12.4 mph. The good news is that high speed isn’t required for most applications. It’s mainly necessary if you have an application when you need to drive from job site to job site without hauling the machine.

One of the most popular aspects of an electric machine is that the electric motors provide instant torque as soon as the operator starts running it. There’s no feeling of a slight delay, which can happen with some diesel machines.

Maintenance is much simpler on an electric machine. For one thing, diesel exhaust fluid, or DEF, or other filters are not needed. Essentially, the only supplies required are grease and hydraulic oil. This is much different than a conventional machine that requires engine maintenance such as fluid, filter and component checks as often as every day, with additional preventive fluid and filter maintenance.

Electric components, like the lithium-ion battery, inverter, AC-to-DC power converter, battery management unit and charging plug, just need visual and functional inspections. Any components not working will be replaced rather than repaired.

Because we’re talking about machines using electricity, much of the additional training needed for technicians is about safety. They’ll also need to learn some new concepts and functions, but that’s part of our ever-evolving industry. It’s just like when telematics and in-cab displays started becoming more prominent—technicians in the shop had to learn how to service those components as well.

Overall, the lifetime of battery-electric components should be equal to or better than that of the diesel engine on a conventional machine. Volvo CE conservatively estimates that users will see 35 percent savings in maintenance costs and time over the life of the machines we offer.

Think of all the new and different ways electric CWLs can be used thanks to their zero emissions and lower noise. They can work indoors and outside of normal business hours, plus they have a fast-charging option to work longer hours. These benefits open the doors of possibility for those looking to expand their offerings.

In a business sense, incorporating sustainability measures into your operations will be good for your long-term profitability. More local and state/provincial governments are adopting clean air policies, so if you want better odds of winning those bids, you need to prove that you’re using equipment with reduced or zero emissions.

If you’re concerned about the cost of switching to electric, don’t forget to assess the total cost of ownership (TCO) and not just the purchase price of such a machine. Electric machines offer fuel savings, less maintenance and extended component life—and that’s on top of the additional work you might be able to win because of the sustainability and noise differences.

Eberhard, a company in Zurich, Germany, that offers civil engineering, deconstruction, recycling and remediation of contaminated sites, tried out a Volvo L25 electric CWL last year. The machine was used at a landfill site, as well as for road clearing and small-scale material handling and as a forklift.

The team said they enjoyed its low emissions, silence and minimal vibration. In the future, Eberhard says it plans to use the L25 electric on construction sites in downtown Zurich and at other cities where requests for silence and low emissions are growing.

“As our organization has grown, we wanted to look at alternative machines that don’t rely on diesel,” says Bruno Meier, CEO and owner. “This is our first foray into the world of electric machines, and it’s going well.”

If you have other questions or concerns about how well electric compact wheel loaders could work for your operation, treat it like any other important business decision and connect with your dealer or original equipment manufacturer of choice.

 Lars Arnold is electromobility product manager at Volvo Construction Equipment. More information is available at www.volvoce.com .