View A Video on Balers - A Quick Introduction
Industrial baler manufacturers produce balers for specific purposes such as cardboard balers, trash compactors and metal balers. Heavy-duty balers for use with waste products that require a lot of pressure in order to compress are sometimes referred to as baling presses, or in specific cases drum crushers. For agricultural uses, such as creating hay bales, round balers are typically used. Specialized baling and compact equipment with the added feature of moisture extraction is used for materials which contain residual oils and liquids. Industrial compactors and compactors are very similar to balers in that they reduce material size for more efficient transportation. Balers tend to be very durable and reliable pieces of machinery and therefore it is possible to source used balers at cost-effective prices that have been refurbished and still have a long lifespan.
Depending on the intended application of a baler, there are two main structure types to choose from: vertical and horizontal. Vertical balers are those that are loaded from the top, and vertical refers to the direction in which material travels in the baler. Vertical balers are often single load machines for material that is lighter in density and volume such as cardboard or plastic, and need to be manually unloaded when the compaction process is complete. These are usually used for smaller waste reduction processes in facilities that do not produce large quantities of scrap. Vertical balers are typically more compact than horizontal balers and are available at relatively low-costs. Horizontal balers are designed for continual use and come with automated feed options but can also be hand-fed or mechanically fed. While horizontal balers take up more floor space, they have the advantage of increased load capacity and are able to compact materials such as cans, plastic containers, papers and secondary fibers. Smaller vertical balers may require pre-shredding of materials, but horizontal balers are able to successfully compact most materials from food scraps to old vehicle tires without additional processes. Industries such as automotive or packaging use horizontal balers to make the process of removal and transportation easier. Most industrial balers are powered by electricity and both types of balers use hydraulic systems to move the material, cutting back on energy expenditure and heat generation.
Bailers usually deal with large volumes of material at one time and therefore have a large input area to accommodate the bulk material. The input area feeds into a compression chamber where the scrap or waste material is pounded and squeezed until it is in a compact shape. Then the waste is bound in order to maintain the compact shape. Wire, plastic or string is used to tightly bind around the compressed material. Some balers can be designed to produce bales in specific sizes although custom capabilities in a baler will cost more than a standard model. Smaller bales are lighter and easier to transport but the process of creating smaller bales will slow down the overall compression application. Customized bales may be worth for a company it in terms of long-term expenditure if a specific size is required for transport or storage purposes. Industries that may benefit from customized sizing are restaurants, retail facilities and warehouses to compact boxes, food scraps and excess packaging waste. For high waste-producing industries including automotive manufacturing, plastics manufacturing and grocery stores or food services, the necessity of compacting and baling is not only for recycling purposes, but also for economical benefits. Reducing the bulk of the waste reduces the money and effort required to dispose of it, leading to the company saving over time. Furthermore, using compactors to reduce the waste cuts down the carbon dioxide emissions required in the process of recycling and further helping the environment.
As recycling becomes more central to industrial and manufacturing processes, baling equipment will play a large role in assisting the process of reducing the carbon footprint of industry. Complete turn-key recycling and composting systems can be designed around a basic baler, allowing business to be environmentally responsible in their waste management. Compacting and baling waste materials reduces the storage size and transportation size of the material allowing companies to spend less in its disposal, as well as having a beneficial environmental impact. Furthermore, baled materials can be reused in the production of new objects. For example, scrap metal can be transported more efficiently to a factory where it can be recycled into new sheet metal and reused. In other instances, a baled material can be used in a different industry such as the use of fibers created from newsprint to be used in the production of shoe soles.
A note on the differences between "balers" and "compactors":
Balers
and compactors are often sold by equipment manufacturers as
identical or similar products. Compactors and balers do very similar
work, but their functions in industrial manufacturing and commercial
retail are slightly different. Balers are used in trash compacting,
recycling and agriculture, their primary function in industrial
manufacturing being to compact and bind, or "bale" recyclable materials
into bales which are more space efficient and less costly to transport.
Compactors are also used at times to compact recyclable materials, but
they are primarily used to compact waste. A baler's purpose is
concentrated in compacting and binding materials, often with twine - as
in hay bales or cardboard bales - while a compactor's function is
primarily to reduce waste management cost by compacting non-recyclable
materials for disposal. Materials compacted and bound by balers are
more often destined for recycling plants, while materials processed by
compactors are usually transported to landfills. Industrial
manufacturers and retail owners use both for space and transportation
efficiency.
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Baler Photos Provided by Balemaster® Inc.
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Baler Types
- are used to compress industrial waste for shipping or recycling.
-
usually have a bin, which collects materials, and a large plate, which
comes down onto the material compressing it. Then, it is baled and ejected.
-
are designed to deal specifically with compressing and binding cardboard,
usually for recycling.
- are
used to condense or crush material with one or two mechanisms that
press the material with extreme force and power to the desired size.
Compactors compress material on a ratio of 5:1, while balers average
25:1.
- compact and crush or flatten scrap material to improve handling,
transportation and disposal.
-
have a separate ram for compressing recyclable material against a fixed
wall and a second ram for ejecting the finished bale (also see single-ram
baler).
-
is a baling device in which the compression ram and plate move vertically
in the chamber.
- are powerful devices used to condense waste, trash and garbage.
- can
be stationary or manually controlled to collect and bind hay, usually
into cylinders or squares.
-
are the most general type of baler available. These balers load from
one end and travel the material through to the other end in a horizontal
motion. Not all horizontal balers follow a perfect horizontal path,
but move the load horizontally for the majority of the process.
-
gather material or are fed material, which is rolled or collected and
bound into a cylinder shape, like common hay bales.
- are used to compress waste materials to save space.
-
usually have more than one charge box in order to process different
types or grades of material. They often have to be unloaded manually
and load from the top of the machine.
-
have a larger entryway, which allows for the baling of materials of
larger than normal width and height.
Baler Terms
-
A device that automatically binds a bale with a wire or another tie material.
- The slight curving
of a bale due to inconsistent density that causes the denser bottom portion
to swell. This creates a trapezoidal bale shape that stresses the banding.
- A machine used to pack
together and bind secondary materials for storage and or shipment.
- Compressed material
that is bound usually by wire.
- The material, usually
wire or nylon, used for wrapping around bales to secure them.
- The increase in
an object's or material's density by applied pressure.
- The per unit size
or space or the concentration of a material.
- The width of the
opening where material is inserted into the shredder.
- Iron-based metals
like steel.
- These are high-speed
rotor equipped machines with large hammers for crushing material into
reduced sizes with up to 6,000 horsepower of force. Hammermills come in
various sizes and material reducing capabilities.
- Press that applies force with a piston that uses liquid.
- A machine that
has large rotors with hardened steel bars at various intervals to pound
concrete or other material fed to the machine. The pieces are then
hurled against a hard steel wall, which further breaks them down.
- A conveyor
that moves at an upward angle.
- Equipment for the processing and reduction of solid chemicals,
materials and other solid products.
-
An area where waste is disposed, then covered beneath a layer of earth.
Landfills are usually equipped with a liner to reduce soil and water pollution
from any contaminating seepage, thus the term "sanitary landfill."
- A press that
applies pressure from a piston that uses gas and or air.
-
A resource recovery method involving the collection, separation and processing
to specification of scrap materials and their uses as raw materials for
the manufacture of new products.
- A very loosely woven
fabric, i.e. netting, used as support or backing.
- A term
commonly used as a synonym for materials in the recycling process.
- The amount of material
conveyed in a specific amount of time.
- A network that
connects companies, which produce waste, with companies who can use the
waste in their production.
