From a height

Expansion in our logistical potentials – vertically load of 40‘ sea containers

Modern, architecturally distinctive buildings, attractive decor – red and white predominate – one might well expect an exterior and interior design studio, but ALKU GmbH, of Maxhütte-Haidhof, focuses on totally different materials. Ludwig Lang founded ALKU as a family-owned company in 1983 – and the challenge at that time was the recycling of cables as an environmentally friendly alternative to their incineration, which was previously customary.

The high-value copper cores were to remain for reuse in the materials chain, however. Ludwig Lang came upon the inspirational idea of using a granulator for this purpose thanks to a TV report. The method made it possible to achieve good separation of copper nuggets and plastic flakes and to forward them immediately for further processing.

An order for grinding of gold-containing connectors and thus the recovery of this precious metal resulted in an additional field of business: recycling of and trading in precious metals.

In 2002, the accession of the next generation to the family-run company, in the person of present-day CEO Matthias Lang, also brought new ideas and thus new fields of materials recovery for the company. Now, not only large machines and equipment, computers and monitors, but also dismantled individual components, inter alia, are further processed. The company thus provides not only services for the recycling of metals, cables and waste electrical/electronic equipment (WEEE), but also for trade in precious-metals-containing materials, including the dismantling of transformers, and floor tiles produced from recycled PVC.

The expansion of these spheres of business necessitated a new building that would provide more space and permit modern logistics arrangements. ALKU GmbH arrived at its present Maxhütte-Haidhof site, not far from Regensburg, in 2008. ALKU GmbH‘s activities nowadays focus predominantly on the recycling of printed-circuit boards (30%) and on transformer dismantling and recycling (30%).

The company accepts, in general, WEEE, cables, transformers and also other metals, irrespective of the quantities proffered by the customer. All types of (predominantly) metals thus also accumulate here: copper, brass, aluminium, V2A steel, lead, tin, zinc, and also special metals, such as indium, gallium, molybdenum, chromium, nickel and tungsten.

The used metals and composite materials delivered are then sorted at ALKU and supplied to smelting plants and refineries. „The large quantities involved, the consistent quality and our on-time delivery enable us to obtain major contracts directly with the metallurgical plants“, notes Matthias Lang, CEO at ALKU GmbH.

www.alku-gmbh.de

www.sennebogen.com

Technical data
SENNEBOGEN 830 E Series

Mobile undercarriage with joystick control

168 kW diesel engine, Stage IV

Overall length 17 m

Max. load-bearing capacity 3.7 t at 16.5 m

Cab: Maxcab, raisable by 3.0 m and extendable forward by 2.6 m

SENNEBOGEN multi-shell grab,
capacity 800 l

Technical data
SENNEBOGEN 818 E Series

Mobile undercarriage with joystick control

97 kW diesel engine, Stage IV

Overall length 10 m

Max. load-bearing capacity 3.5 t at 9.0 m

Cab: Maxcab, raisable by 2.7 m

SENNEBOGEN multi-shell grab, capacity 400 l

x

Related articles:

Kuusakoski´s new copper centre to recycle all cables in Finland

A € 7 million processing plant for aluminium and copper containing materials will be completed next year in Heinola/Finland. This is part of the multi-year investment program which aims to increase...

more
Advertorial / Advertisement

How to obtain pure copper by recycling old motors and electrical wires?

The potential of copper: a resource with huge economic value Copper is known to be a strong and malleable metal that can be used in numerous processes. Thanks to these characteristics, copper is...

more
Issue 02/2019

Circular Economy

Dear Readers, how much of the waste produced in industry and private households every day is really returned to the raw-material cycle? What would you estimate? Considering that the term “circular...

more
Issue 04/2019 Recycling of meatballs even more efficient

BHS-Sonthofen increases amount of copper recovered from motor armatures and electric motors

Innovations emerge from different paths. In this case, a Dutch customer approached the team at BHS-Sonthofen, a leader in impact crushing technology. Their goal was to optimize a process for recycling...

more

CopperDigital – Data platform to increase efficiency, productivity and sustainability on copper alloy materials

The Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS wants to provide a platform with data on copper alloy materials along the entire life cycle together with partners. The data,...

more