NEWTON KS – Bunting Magnetics Co. has received USDA, AMS acceptance for Magnetic Metal Separators with widespread applications in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and food industries. These Magnetic Separators are the only USDA, AMS-Accepted Magnetic Separators on the market and were designed by Bunting’s R&D staff to help processors meet increased marketplace demands and governmental requirements for safer and purer processed materials
and foodstuffs.

The USDA, AMS acceptance applies to select Bunting “A” Series Separators. The specific models receiving the USDA, AMS acceptance include Bunting’s HFS Manual-Clean Drawer Magnets, Grate Magnets, Plate Magnets, and Bunting Magnetic Liquid Traps in single Plate, double Plate, and Cartridge Magnet designs. All of these models have met or exceeded the USDA, AMS criteria as published in the NSF/ANSI/3-A 14159-1 2002 specifications, passed inspection, and earned the right to bear the USDA, AMS Meat and Poultry Accepted Equipment logo. They are built in accordance with the USDA, AMS hygiene requirements for the materials, design, and fabrication of equipment used in the preparation and packaging of food products.

Bunting Drawer Magnets are engineered to handle a wide range of separation tasks in dry, gravity-fed conveying systems. To fit them for specific installations, they can be supplied with top and bottom spouting adapters for square, rectangular, or round spouting. HF Drawer Magnets are normally built with two or more trays arranged so that the magnetic cartridges are staggered to increase contact with the product flow. In this configuration, material moves in a zig-zag pattern from one cartridge tray to the next for exceptionally thorough cleaning. In standard models, ferrous debris is removed from the cartridges by sliding the trays out of the housing and wiping them off by hand.

Bunting Grate Magnets provide economical permanent magnetic protection against tramp iron in mechanical or gravity conveying and processing systems. Properly applied, they remove ferrous fines, fragments, and larger metal objects from dry particulates, liquids, and slurries. Grates can be installed – or simply laid – inside hoppers, pits, chutes, housings, and bins, where they can be accessed for cleaning. Ceramic magnet loads are standard. Alnico and high-energy Rare Earth loads are also available.

The company’s newly updated Plate Magnet line achieves superior ferrous metal separation in chutes, spouting, and even suspended applications. Neodymium and Ceramic loads have been redesigned to provide up to three times the gauss and holding force at the magnet surface, while maintaining the same field depth and powerful outreach characteristics. This combination of strong reachout and holding forces enables Bunting Plate Magnets to capture and retain tramp iron and ferrous fines even in dense, high flow rate applications. All units now have completely stainless steel exteriors and a new sanitary hinge design that facilitates thorough cleaning.

Bunting Magnetic Liquid Traps with Plate and Cartridge magnets capture even small ferrous particles and weakly magnetic or work-hardened 300 series stainless steel fragments. According to company engineers, Bunting Cartridge-Style Magnetic Liquid Traps are built specifically to offer superior separation of ferrous contaminants by directing product flow through a tightly spaced grid of Rare Earth magnetic cartridges. This tight grid exposes liquids and suspended ferrous debris to intense magnetic fields, in much the same way Bunting multi-tray Drawer Magnets do. Along with the tight spacing, Bunting Traps also use longer cartridges to maintain generous flow capacity. These longer cartridges contain more permanent magnetic material and provide more collection area for holding the tramp metal. The standard Neodymium magnets have the highest magnetic energy available in Liquid Trap Separators.

In addition to the USDA, AMS-accepted Magnet Separators, Bunting supplies a wide range of other sanitary-grade Magnetic Metal Separators and electronic Metal Detectors that have not yet been submitted for USDA, AMS acceptance. These sanitary-grade units are widely used within the powder and bulk solids processing industries and provide another option to help processors achieve their quality benchmarks. Sanitary-grade Bunting Separators are designed for applications where products intended for human or animal consumption are handled in final form. This grade follows many of the same guidelines set by the NSF/3-A standards for sanitary materials, design, and fabrication. Type 304 stainless steel is the standard material used for bodies and flanges. Type 316 stainless is an option. All interior seams are fully welded and ground smooth, and there is minimum inside radius control for all features. The equipment incorporates FDA-approved gaskets and seals plus special interior and exterior finishes, including optional electropolishing.

Bunting sanitary separation systems help producers meet today’s high quality standards, protect processing equipment, and reduce good product waste. Duplex units that combine magnetic metal separators, designed to remove ferrous contaminants, with units that can detect and separate nonferrous metals, such as aluminum, stainless steel, lead, brass, and copper, allow Bunting to offer truly comprehensive tramp metal protection for foodstuffs and other bulk materials. Bunting’s extensive separation equipment line includes units configured to handle liquids, pastes, slurries, and even packaged items.

Bunting also manufactures separation equipment to utility-, powder-, and food-grade standards. Food-grade construction is often used for applications where products intended for eventual human or animal consumption are handled as an ingredient in a finished product. Food-grade standards assume that the product will undergo a finishing process to eliminate the potential for bacterial contamination. Bunting food-grade separators have FDA-approved gaskets and seals. Type 304 stainless steel is the basic material used on all contact surfaces. All mating panels are formed or welded into one continuous, easy-to-clean surface.

Many Bunting Magnetic Metal Separators are available with either Ceramic, Alnico, or Rare Earth magnets to match the demands of specific applications. Rare Earth magnets provide very high holding power. Bunting lists heat-resistant Rare Earth magnets and new extra-high-energy Neo 50 Rare Earth magnets as options.

For more information and FREE copies of our Permanent Magnetic Separation Catalog #1102 and Metal Detection and Separation Equipment Catalog #2200, write Bunting Magnetics Co., 500 S. Spencer Avenue, PO Box 468, Newton, KS 67114-0468, USA; call 1-800-835-2526 (US & Canada) or 1-316-284-2020; or send e-mail to bmc@buntingmagnetics.com.