Sidewell Reverberatory:
The sidewell furnace is broadly used in North America for recycling operations. The furnace have reverb chamber as explained above, but along the addition of a side well. Scrap metal is charged into the sidewell and is submerged rapidly. Any dross formed gathers in the dross well and might be easily removed. This helps to keep the basic furnace chamber clean. Usually some form of pumping system is working to circulate the metal. The most common is the mechanical pumping system that have a low capital cost. These pumps require some regular maintenance normally however this may be done without bringing the furnace out of service. Now Electro-Magnetic systems are attaining popularity. These contain a higher capital cost but dropped maintenance requirements. Based upon design, the furnace might need to be taken out of service for maintenance to be performed. Sidewell furnaces are perfect for decoated product as they permit the scrap to be charged on a constant basis from the decoating system. If charged rapidly the scrap is yet hot after decoating (usually 300 - 450oC) that means that the energy needed to melt the scrap shall be dropped markedly. It combined with the submerging action of the sidewell promotes melt time and the decrease of dross. As melting is on a continuous basis, there will frequently be a mechanical system for automatically feeding flux into the furnace. A hood might be sited above the sidewell to gather any fumes that might arise. If dirty scrap (coated) is charged, these fumes might be an environmental hazard & consideration might be given to treatment of these gases, by some form of after burning normally.
Characteristics of this kind of furnace include:
- Continuous charging, ideal for utilized with decoating system.
- Moderate capital expense.
- Appropriate for most scrap types.
- Clean exhaust gases if decoated scrap is utilized.
- High recoveries while used with good quality decoated scrap.