Shredding Waste into Profits: Grinders Help Waste-to-Energy ...

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Jul. 28, 2025

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Shredding Waste into Profits: Grinders Help Waste-to-Energy ...


By Alec Mackie

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Handling difficult liquids such as sludge, grease or fluids laden with solids in waste-to-energy operations presents a challenge that can impact the entire system if left untreated. When flow is interrupted by debris or large solids blocking a pump or pipeline, the waste conversion process can break down within seconds -- and the time and cost to deal with a complete clean-out, shutdown and restart could be astronomical.

Thankfully, this situation can easily be avoided. Many facilities that process difficult liquid/solid combinations now rely upon dual-shafted grinders on the inlet side of pumps to ensure continuous flow and prevent blockages. These powerful shredders apply several tons of cutting force at peak loads, breaking down tough solids or rags and turning them into smaller particles that can flow easily through pumps and pipes. These grinders are used to protect a wide variety of pumps, including centrifugal, chopper, rotary lobe, and progressive cavity pumps.

The 3-HYDRO-IX dual-shafted grinder from JWC Environmental's Monster Industrial division.

Dual-shafted grinders were originally developed for wastewater treatment, including sludge pumping. Since then, these grinders have been installed in a variety of applications beyond wastewater, such as manure, food waste, and biofuels processing.

Operation

Dual-shafted grinders employ low-speed, high-torque grinding to break down the troublesome solids. This approach has been found to be much more effective in dealing with the wide variety of solids in waste streams, including stringy rags, tough stones and other inorganic materials. Systems that utilize high-speed cutting blades, such as macerators, cannot deliver the same cutting force as dual-shafted grinders. Macerators also tend to become clogged with stringy material or get damaged by hard solids or waste streams with moderate grit.

Dual-shafted grinders comprise two rows of hardened, steel cutters that rotate toward one another. The cutter teeth actively grab solids and pull them through the cutter stack, shredding them into smaller pieces. The shafts also rotate at different speeds, so the cutters interact like a pair of scissors -- slicing the solids rather than crushing them; this helps ensure a consistently small particle size (most pieces are 1/2-inch or smaller). Top and bottom shaft bearings and robust mechanical seals prevent shaft deflection or seal failure when grinding in high-solids conditions.

Example of an installed 3-HYDRO-IX within a manure pipeline.

For in-line, dual-shafted grinders, the system comes in two parts, ensuring an efficient and streamlined installation. The flanged steel housing is bolted into the pipeline at both ends, and a removable cutter cartridge, including two shafts of cutters, the gear reducer and motor, slides down into the housing. This simplifies maintenance inspections and repairs since the cutter cartridge can be removed and the pipeline can be put back into service.

JWC Environmental is a specialist in this technology and has developed a range of grinders, known as Monster grinders, for in-line and hopper-fed shredding applications. The Monster Industrial® division of JWC offers a complete lineup of engineered systems for waste-to-energy plants and is available with additional debris removal features such as rock traps, screens, compactors, and automated controllers to monitor the system.

The largest Monster Industrial grinder can be installed in pipelines up to 20 inches in diameter and process up to 6,800 gallons per minute. For maximum energy savings and operating efficiency, the grinders use only a 3-, 5- or 10-horsepower motor depending on the amount of flow.

Grinder operation is handled by a PLC-based central control panel, which monitors the unit and protects it against unexpected items that might cause damage -- such as a wrench or piece of steel rebar. When the controller senses an amperage spike, the cutters will stop, reverse and then try grinding again. The unit will automatically try the forward and reverse sequence three times in order to clear tough solids.

Farm Waste Fuels Innovation

To see the future of sustainable farming, one need look no further than BioTown Ag (Reynolds, Ind.). This technology-driven, environmentally-conscious farm focuses on eliminating the impact from past agricultural practices by exploring new frontiers in food production.

BioTown Ag's anaerobic food waste and manure digester converts waste into energy, fertilizer and soil. Image courtesy of BioTown Ag.

To meet its sustainability goals, BioTown incorporated an anaerobic food waste and manure digester to convert waste into energy, fertilizer and soil. Optimizing the efficiency of the digester requires more organic material than what the farm produces, so the company accepts organic byproducts from neighboring industries. This solution is a win-win for all parties: local companies have a greener disposal option for their food waste, and BioTown is able to keep its digester running at peak efficiency.

The methane gas produced by the digester is used to power the farm's three generators, while the fertilizer and soil that the digester produces are used on-site or sold locally. Each year, BioTown reduces CO2 emissions by 44,000 tons, landfill waste by 128,000 tons and wastewater by 36.5 million gallons. Incorporating this digester within its farming operation provides a host of benefits that ripple throughout the community. Local businesses have a sustainable disposal option for their organic waste, and the extra energy the farm doesn't use is sold back to the power grid.

Manure and biosolids being mixed with water at the beginning of the digestion process. Image courtesy of Indiana Public Media. Photo by Joe Hren.

It's crucial that waste material flows uninhibited through the system because any downtime due to equipment failure can be costly and time-intensive to the entire operation. Within the digester are three chopper pumps that keep manure, organic waste and water flowing throughout the closed-loop process. Smaller solids can pass through the pumps without causing clogs, but if larger pieces of debris are left untreated, the whole system comes to a halt -- which is exactly the problem workers at BioTown were experiencing a few years go.

Along with the organic waste that goes in the digester, items like water bottles, wood and rock can end up in the feedstock mix during transport. Those items easily clog pipelines and pumps, and operators are required to manually unclog the chopper pumps to get the system running again. At BioTown, clogs within the chopper pumps were occurring every few days, which required a complete shutdown of the digester. And the tasks of cleaning and rebuilding the system were both unpleasant and potentially hazardous.

After researching available solutions, BioTown purchased a 3-HYDRO-IX from JWC's Monster Industrial division and installed it into the pipeline that flows into the feedstock mixing tank. Since the installation, the company's maintenance crew hasn't had to manually unclog the pumps, and the farm has purchased a second Monster grinder to keep up with increased capacity.

Grinding Beyond Wastewater

Sludge handling and debris reduction are just the beginning of a dual-shafted grinder's capabilities. Those running a waste-to-energy business have a lot on their minds -- worrying about pump and pipeline clogs shouldn't be one of those things. Using a capable, intelligently-designed industrial grinder will help business owners shred waste into profits and keep their waste-to-energy operation running smoothly.

About the Author: Alec Mackie is the marketing manager for JWC Environmental.

From Grease to Green Energy

In recent years, the appeal of using restaurant grease as a feedstock source for green energy projects has steadily grown. The product is nutrient-rich and can be used to enhance cogeneration systems. Further, using grease as a digester feedstock is an incredibly sustainable recycling practice, as little use exists for it in its raw form for other applications.

Problems at these plants can arise if the grease is too thick, or full of debris, to flow through the system. Without a heavy object trap and grinder on the discharge side of the grease truck, debris can enter the tank and get pulled into the grease pump, causing a blockage or severe pump damage. This results in continual maintenance at significant cost due to lost operations and pump repair.

Recently, this situation arose at the wastewater treatment plant in the city of West Lafayette, Ind. In , the plant seized a revenue-generating opportunity for the thousands of gallons of grease the facility receives per month --sometimes upward of 18,000 gallons -- by installing a grease-receiving station. The plant soon found that, without a grinder on the discharge side of the grease trap, debris entering the grease tank would get pulled into the pump and cause blockage, equipment damage and unscheduled maintenance.

To solve the problem, the plant installed a JWC Environmental Heavy Object Trap (HOT). The HOT (model GRS) features an adjustable bar screen with 1/2-inch (12-mm) spacings, ideal for catching debris before reaching the pump. As grease is unloaded from a truck, the debris is captured by the HOT bar screen and allows the grease to flow freely through the pump without process interruption.

Since the installation of the HOT, the West Lafayette plant has significantly reduced the amount of debris being discharged into the grease tank. In addition, the easy-to-clean bar screen has reduced operator maintenance and repair expense, decreasing downtime for the facility. The system removes the trash and ensures the smooth flow of grease into the processing system, and that's just the way plant managers like it -- maximum flow, minimum problems.

From waste to value - Vogelsang Blog

The RedUnit transforms tough food waste and by-products into pumpable media for further processing

The advantages of the RedUnit will be on show for all to behold: a modular setup for a tailor-made customized solution, lower electricity and water consumption, sturdy shredding due to the solid design of the RedUnit and extra-simple commissioning via an intelligent control system and plug-and-play solution.

Meat, bones and hooves: The 2 in1 RedUnit system will get to the bottom of abattoir waste

Markus Liebich, Industry Sales Manager Germany

SVL are exported all over the world and different industries with quality first. Our belief is to provide our customers with more and better high value-added products. Let's create a better future together.

“During the slaughter of animal livestock, a great deal of waste and by-products like bones, skin and offal are created. These remains provide genuine added value if prepared accordingly – for example in the manufacture of gelatin, animal feed or fertilizers. To reenter the cycle, these tough materials need to be processed into the smallest possible particles or to a pumpable suspension using appropriate technology. To do this abattoirs, gelatin manufacturers and butchers require sturdy and reliable shredders and pump systems,” explains Markus Liebich, Industry Sales Manager for Germany.
The manufacture of meat and meat products is among the sectors in the German food processing industry with the largest turnovers. Commercial abattoirs generated around 8.1 million tons of meat in . Approximately 745 million animals were slaughtered for this.1 During this process, as well as the primary product, a multitude of animal by -products and waste are created that are unsuitable for human consumption or only under certain conditions. By the thorough shredding of solid matter, these canbe recycled to a great extent, however. Among other things, they can then be used for the manufacture of gelatin, animal meal, pet food or as a substrate for biogas plants. In addition, fat and protein can be
melted down from the assorted bones and abattoir waste and used as raw products for the manufacture of
cosmetics, medicine or animal feed. Precise shredding into the smallest possible parts is key here. The smaller the particles, the better they can be used in subsequent processes. A prerequisite for the processing of tenacious solid matter in every case is tough, high availability, coordinated shredding and pump technology.

Sophisticated combination of pump and shredding technology

Bones, hooves, horns, feathers or offal contained in remnants place huge demands on shredders and pumps. At the same time, specific size-reduction ratios that comply with a maximum size are often required in order to keep using the materials accordingly. The correct preparation chain for the recycling of abattoir waste and by-products varies therefore according to the characteristics of the solid matter to be shredded and the desired output.
With the compact RedUnit Vogelsang has developed a practical plug-and-play solution. A combination of pump and shredding technology designed especially for the food processing and recycling industry, it offers significant benefits compared to stand-alone solutions: it requires less space and power, is simpler to control and maintain, and therefore offers maximum operational safety. Furthermore, rotors and cutting screens can be flexibly adapted to customer requirements.

Method of operation of RedUnit

with RedUnit XRL – for rough grinding, a CC series progressive cavity pump – for efficient pumping, and an extra RotaCut RCQ – for fine grinding and foreign matter separation

The user specifies the solid matter and size-reduction ratio – from extremely solid to pulp. Shredders and pumps are installed in the RedUnit as modules in line with these requirements.

  1. Solid matter like meat remnants or bones is conducted via a hopper to the RedUnit.
  2. (Optional) The user adds any additional fluid required via a VX or IQ series rotary lobe pump.
  3. The RedUnit XRL coarsely shreds the raw particles to a pumpable size.
  4. (Optional) Finally, the CC series progressive cavity pump pumps the mixture to the destination defined by the customer, such as into a container or transfer trailer.
  5. (Optional) The shredded medium falls into the mixing area of the RotaCut RCQ macerator to be shredded as defined. Here it is mixed with fluid. The shredding unit comprising RotaCut RCQ blade rotor and screen cut the mixture to a defined size.


RedUnit: Lots of combinations
for tailor-made solutions

RedUnit XRL

The basic variant integrates the RedUnit XRL shredder, which contains the required control technology for efficient optimization of the entire unit. This solution is ideal for the shredding of large quantities of bulky materials and solid matter such as abattoir waste, potatoes, sugar beets and frozen vegetables.

RedUnit XRL + CC series progressive cavity pump

The RedUnit reduces the particle size of coarse matter in a single shredding step and mixes the medium with fluid where required to prepare it for downstream processes. The medium is pumped through the drain line with a CC series pump.

RedUnit XRL + CC series progressive cavity pump + downstream RotaCut RCQ

For special application areas such as the processing of abattoir and fish waste, a RotaCut macerator can be placed downstream of the RedUnit XRL and the CC series. This variant will provide a uniform particle size with maximum flexibility and sufficient throughput rates.

RedUnit XRL + RotaCut RCX + CC series progressive cavity pump

This combination is the most compact RedUnit solution. Offering two shredding stages on one pump stage, it is ideal for highly liquid media requiring a small particle size such as potato remnants.

Effective shredding without downtime

From poultry and pig slaughterhouses to gelatin manufacturers, companies with the widest variety of meat and processing requirements rely on the RedUnit by Vogelsang. In , for instance, a poultry process ing plant from the UK opted to use a combination plant consisting of the RedUnit XRL shredder and a CC series progressive cavity pump by Vogelsang. In the plant, hens are slaughtered and the meat prepared
for the retail sector. Hens that are damaged during processing or fall to the ground are removed from the line. With a weekly plant throughput of up to two million whole hens, a great deal of waste is created: around a ton of waste per hour, which needs to be processed for the pet food market.
The RedUnit by Vogelsang enables the company to successfully handle the ongoing shredding and conveyance of these poultry remains. The RedUnit processes the remains at a speed that is adapted to the substances, enabling the pump to run at a constant speed. The shredder tools on the RedUnit are made of a block of special steel. Thanks to its single-piece design, the torque can be transferred uniformly to the rotors across the entire length of the shaft, the shredder withstands higher loads and enables the processing of up to 80 hens in just one-and-a-half minutes.

Economical and easy to maintain

The UK poultry slaughterhouse plant saves space, energy and time when compared to the shredders they used previously, as the RedUnit requires no additional downstream pumps or screw conveyors. The individual elements are stacked vertically on top of one another so that the shredded material falls direct ly into the integrated pump. Having no intermediate conveyance sections means that electricity consumption also drops overall. Since the RedUnit needs no water during the shredding process either, water consumption is also significantly less. The RedUnit boasts the QuickService concept for progressive cavity pumps for fast and easy maintenance, which offers several options for replacement of the rotor and stator and for sealing changes. If the pump needs to be operational again as quickly as possible, the stator and rotor are replaced as a single unit. The entire rotating unit can also be replaced without dismounting parts of the pipe on either the suction or discharge sides. Alternatively, the stator can also be removed and replaced or the rotor replaced individually.

A control system can be optionally added to any RedUnit combination for maximum performance.

Ready for Industry 4.0

The integrated control of the RedUnit is equipped with the platform-independent OPC UA communication model and therefore prepared for the future – i.e., for smart factories. Using an intelligent control unit and an intuitive touchscreen, the user can view all technical characteristics for the individual ma chines and adjust these, too. The widest variety of user require ments – such as for delivery rate and shredding stages – can be adapted in the briefest of times.
The RedUnit also offers a plug-and-play solution for all combinations, making commission ing incred ibly simple. In addition, the unit is commissioned by trained, qualified personnel prior to leaving the factory. This ensures that the system is checked professionally for operational functionality and keeps the time required for installation at the customer to a minimum. Following delivery, the RedUnit can be commissioned immediately as a turnkey solution without any additional work.

What happens with the abattoir waste during meat production?

Edible = fit for human consumption

This includes bones, skin and connective tissue. If these are classified as edible, they can continue to be used as food. One example here is the manufacture of gelatin.

Products classified as unwholesome can still continue to be used providing certain regulations are observed. Fat and protein from bones are used as raw materials in animal feed, cosmetics and medicines for example.

Inedible = animal by-product

Category 1: Animal by-products with a high risk (e.g., animals with certain illnesses such as TSE) have to be burned as waste or brought to special waste sites for disposal.

Category 2: By-products that carry the risk of other illnesses, among other things. These may be used for the generation of biogas, for composting or for the manufacture of organic fertilizers after they have been treated accordingly, but not for the manufacture of animal feed.

Category 3: Animal by-products that pose no danger to the health of human beings and animals
(e.g., carcass parts such as skin, hooves, horns and feathers). These may be used as a raw materials by pet food companies or processed in a biogas or composting plant.

Fat and protein from bones are unsed as raw materials in animal feed.

1) Source: German Federal Ministry for Statistics, Press Release No. 038 dated February 7,

Further links

More on the RedUnit

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Shredding Mixing Feeding Pumping System.

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