MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC Changes for the Better
EMEA
Recycling

How can energy costs in recycling processes be reduced?

08.01.20243 min read

Mitsubishi Electric places particular emphasis on supporting the sustainable develop-ment of all industries. The company offers solutions that help at various stages – from raw material extraction, production and transport to the disposal and processing of secondary raw materials for reuse in order to conserve natural resources.

The recycling industry has a particularly large key role to play in the sustainability process, as the energy-intensive processes offer a great deal of potential for optimisation with new technologies. Conserving natural resources is a priority today, so an increasing proportion of raw materials must be obtained from secondary raw materials. This method consumes less energy and is therefore cheaper and less harmful to the environment. It can therefore be assumed that the recycling in-dustry will remain stable even in times of declining consumption and stagnation in other sectors.

Recycling, like any other business, must be profitable. One of the most effective ways to improve profitability is to reduce costs. Preferably where they are incurred the most. What does that look like in the recycling industry, where large amounts of energy are consumed? Much of the cost in the industrial recycling process is associated with the use of machines driven by powerful electric motors: Shredders, compressors, induction furnaces, conveyors, crushers and many others.

This area is closely associated with Mitsubishi Electric. The company has been successfully looking for ways to reduce power consumption for decades.

Mitsubishi Electric's expertise, experience in supporting companies in various fields and extensive product portfolio can also be used in the secondary raw materials industry.

Especially useful are proven solutions for:

  • Drive technology (frequency converters and motors);
  • Power supply (medium voltage switchgear, low voltage switchgear);
  • Monitoring of power consumption and power quality;
  • Programmable Logic Controllers (MELSEC);
  • Control, monitoring and maintenance of production equipment (large area monitors, visuali-sation software and SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition);
  • Edge computing (MELPIC industrial computers and related software);

    At Mitsubishi Electric, even the most elaborate systems are built mainly on the basis of compo-nents from our own production. Therefore, customers can be sure that they will receive stable, optimised and energy-efficient products. Mitsubishi Electric's solutions are comprehensive but mo-dular – their implementation can be gradual as needs arise and funds are raised.

    Costs are reduced by replacing inefficient, high-maintenance and partially worn-out drives with so-lutions equipped with advanced AI functions and robust frequency converters that bring the drive network and the plant to a future-proof technological level. Networking plant components offers the opportunity to evaluate the energy efficiency of the entire system, look for the causes of un-wanted energy losses and optimise energy consumption. One easy-to-implement solution, for exa-mple, is to limit the torque of motors to optimal values in a specific load range.

    For Mitsubishi Electric, every customer is a new opportunity to create innovative and new soluti-ons, and to create and grow value together with the ever-growing needs of customer require-ments.



    Photo: Getty Images


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