sorting | Technology
Right: Steinert UniSort BlackEye
technology
aspects affect sensor technology as well as the sorting functions of the machines themselves. Beker added that operators of recycling systems increasingly want higher recycling rates as well as lower amounts of residual waste after the recycling processes are completed. Sensor-based sorting technology is indispen- sable for the development of a sustainable recycling economy and the attainment of ambitious EU targets such as the ban on the disposal of non-biodegradeable plastics and the achievement of a 75% recycling rate for plastic packaging by 2030. According to Beker, Germany has fully developed solutions for almost all industrial waste sorting tasks involving polymer materials. These solutions are increasingly being accepted and used by players along the recycling chain. However, the sorting of black plastics by polymer class is still a challenging task whenever the float-sink method cannot be used. RTT Steinert, a subsidiary of Steinert Elektromagnetbau, has addressed this issue and developed a solution to the industrial production stage. The UniSort BlackEye technology has advanced
Below: The Green Mind company, located in Guadalajara, Mexico has installed Sesotec Flake Purifier sorting systems
sensors that use hyperspectral imaging (HSI) technol- ogy, based on NIR cameras. At many recycling facilities, black and dark objects that do not fall into a defined spectrum, as well as soiled plastics, often end up in the residual fraction, which generally prevents them from being fed back into the raw-material cycle. However, this particular technology does not use mechanically moving parts and it scans the entire width of the conveying system in one go with a high-resolution line-scan camera. The UniSort BlackEye enables operators to detect such objects in the flow of materials and recycle them. The company says that it also allows the clean separation of black parts. The sorting machine does not separate plastic flakes on the basis of colour, but polymer class. Therefore, the UniSort
BlackEye can cleanly separate not only black plastics, but plastics of any colour. As a result, it is now possible to recover recyclates efficiently from fractions with a high proportion of dark plastics, says Steinert. According to the company, the advantages of HSI for UniSort equipment include that it combines high spatial and spectral resolution, which means that small objects can be reliably recognised. Complex sorting tasks are possible because the system records the complete spectral region for every spatial point, and utilises mature, fast spectrometric algorithms, making the new generation of equipment extremely versatile. Sesotec has developed the Flake Purifier + sorting
system. The company says that it is based on a modular system that allows the combination of all available sensors for contaminant detection -- metal separation, sensors for colour separation/sorting, and sensors for the separation and sorting by plastic types. The system is claimed to offer optimised in-feeding for a more evenly distributed material flow and increased through- put. Maintenance and integration is claimed to be easier, and has a dust-proof design for integrated dust and label extraction. Flake Purifier C is a colour sorting system, developed
to sort PET flakes and used to separate differently coloured PET flake streams into pure colour fractions, while Flake Purifier M is a metal separation system, designed to analyse PET flakes and used to separate metal particles. New micro-processor technology enables precise localisation of metal particles and separation with minimal loss of good material. Flake Purifier N is a contamination separation system, developed to sort PET flakes and used to separate different types of plastics. PET flakes can now be separated from PVC flakes or organic material such as PLA. Sesotec has recently been involved with the Green Mind company, located in Guadalajara, Mexico. Green
18 PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | June 2017
www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com
PHOTO: SESOTEC
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