Industrial shredder manufacturer SSI Shredding Systems, Inc. launches a new high-speed, single rotor shredder aimed at a rapidly evolving segment of the waste-to-energy market. The product development team at SSI engineered the new shredder, the SR900F, to produce refined refuse derived fuel (RDF), delivering one-inch-minus material with unprecedented throughput and efficiency.
The SR900F was not developed in isolation. It was the product of a collaborative effort between sales, engineering, and in partnership with SSI’s long-term customers.
“We rely on our customers as members of the team,” explained Paul Breithaupt senior engineer at SSI.
Customers bring insight into real-world conditions, observations, and desires. Which, when combined with SSI’s decades of engineering and application experience, results in a purpose-built machine.
A Need for Finer Fuels
The ability to size material at scale is the key to successfully producing fuels. Traditionally, SSI’s RDF systems have relied on shear shredders to create two-inch-minus material. A PRI-MAX® primary reducer coarsely breaks down material and feeds it into a Quad®, or four-shaft shear shredder, which delivers the final particle size. This system excels at processing heavily contaminated material while still delivering a two-inch particle size in the finished fuel.
However, the growing demand for one-inch fuel meant an alternative was needed, thus the SR900F concept was born.
“We knew the solution would be a Uni-Shear®,” recalled Dave Welters, mechanical engineer and project manager of the SR900F, “it’s a knowledge base we have a lot of history and experience with.”
Uni-Shear® is SSI’s line of single rotor shredders and grinders which offer high throughput potential when processing clean materials. The SR900F takes that potential even further. With an increase of rotor speed, more than twice that of the original SR900G, the machine significantly increases the number of cuts per minute, allowing for more aggressive shredding of light material.
“Fuels production is a game of volume,” Breithaupt asserted this key design parameter for the new SR900F.
Purpose Drive Design
To meet project deadlines, SSI’s engineering, sales, and manufacturing teams worked closely together to move from concept to production.
“I think we've brought more people into one design than any shredder project that I've been around for,” commented James Luce, product and design engineer. “And the machine came together really well.”
The team began by adapting the SR900G, a robust mid-speed single-rotor shredder originally designed for tough materials like tires and auto shredder residue. To refine the machine for lighter feedstock such as fuels, engineers traded some torque for higher rotor speed to improve throughput. In addition to increasing the rotor speed, the development team redesigned the cutter geometry and added a second anvil bed to enhance performance with light, high-volume material.
“We replaced our traditional diamond cutters with broader, flat cutters,” said Breithaupt. “That change increases the cutting surface while allowing for a tighter shear gap. It also helps channel material through the chamber and sweeps the screen more effectively.”
The second set of anvils, stationary knives that sit opposite the rotor, doubles the number of cutting opportunities per revolution to further enhance the throughput capacity.
Crucially, the SR900F retains all the maintenance-friendly features of the SR900 base model that SSI customers expect.
“After we showed the customer the maintenance features,” shares Welters, “They were really excited by how easy it is to get in and service the cutters, the anvils, and pull the screens out.”
Performance that Exceeded Expectations
Initial testing at SSI’s facility surprised engineers with how quickly and effortlessly the machine was performing.
“We couldn’t get a conveyor fast enough to keep up with the production,” James Luce said with a smile, “and the machine was almost silent, like it wasn’t stressing.”
In the field, the first SR900F was delivered to a long-time SSI customer, and the early results have been overwhelmingly positive.
The goal was 20 tons per hour of 1 inch minus output, and the SR900F is hitting that with ease. As the line is tuned, the throughput increases.
“I laid out the system on a computer, and then I got to see it in person,” Welters recounted. “We turned it on, material started flowing, and the customer had a huge smile on their face. And it's just really rewarding to see it come together.”
Looking Ahead
While the SR900F has only recently entered the market, feedback from the field is already shaping the next round of improvements.
“We want to iterate and capture as many of those good ideas and good feedback as we can,” concluded Breithaupt.
For SSI, the SR900F represents more than just a new shredder; it’s a statement. “We can go fast while staying durable and dependable.”
This is just the beginning, but one thing is clear, this is a machine built for the future of fuel.
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