sorting | Technology


grow significantly in Eastern Europe. Our colour grouping technology is now also being installed by start-up companies in the Middle East, Africa and India. “We have also established a two machine solution


for removing difficult polymers in PET flake recycling. The combination of Sortex A ColorVision and Sortex E PolyVision works together to remove material that can devalue recycled PET [rPET], including opaque defects, wood, metals and non-PET material. The process sorts both by colour and chemical signatures that can identify invisible and same colour polymers.” Bühler has entered into a strategic partnership with


Above: MSS Cirrus PlasticMax


substrates. They both also feature a high resolution sensor array that can handle small particles down to the flake and pellet level. In 2016 a new type of polyolefin-based label, manu-


factured by UPM Raflatac, required tests to determine if the label, when shrunk on a PET bottle, could be commercialised and put into the current PET market with the existing infrastructure and be properly sepa- rated both by resin and colour. This testing was facilitated and performed by an independent, third party testing/ consulting company specialising in plastics recycling applications. MSS says that the Cirrus achieved the highest average test score of 88.2% in a controlled test of sleeved PET bottles among six vendors using its NIR + Color sensing/identification hardware and software. The company says that both the Cirrus PlasticMax


Right: Bühler Sortex E


PolyVision flake sorter


and PurePlasticMax bottle sorting units are built in widths of 1,600mm, 2,000mm, 2,400mm and 2,800mm and can sort bottles by type of material and colour at the same time. “We can add an all-metal detector if sorting of metal contaminants is required,” Hottenstein says. “We can also build them with one or two air ejector arrays to generate either two or three output streams at the same time.” Bühler Sortex has developed optical sorting solutions for colour grouping of PP and HDPE, where there is a large recycling requirement for separating large containers, such as detergent bottles. “The value of the recyclate can be doubled if accurate colour separation can be achieved,” says Bernhard Gabauer, Segment Development Manager for Plastics at Bühler Sortex. “While the recycling of PET bottles remains high, we have also observed significant growth in the recycling of rigid plastics. There is currently increasing demand for HDPE and PP colour grouping technology in Western Europe, where PET recycling has probably reached its peak. The recycling of PET, HDPE and PP continues to


16 PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | June 2017


US-based National Recovery Technologies (NRT) to offer plastics recyclers a complete solution for plastic bottle and flake sorting. Designed to address the findings of a report produced by the World Economic Forum and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation that just 5% of waste plastic is recycled effectively, the tailored PET recycling solution is capable of improving yields by more than 30%. Using colour and chemical signature sorting in the two machine process results in high grade rPET flakes for bottle production, plus a significant increase in yield. The partnership combines NRT expertise in bottle sorting with Bühler’s knowledge in flake sorting. The offering includes NRT’s SpydIR bottle sorter, which uses proprietary technology and fast, highly sensitive algorithms to rapidly identify unique polymer signatures from their infrared spectra. SpydIR uses PET Boost which improves detection of thin-wall PET, wet PET and full-sleeve labelled PET. It is also equipped with NRT’s In-Flight Sorting technology, which detects and ejects materials in flight for higher purity rates. Bühler’s Sortex E PolyVision flake sorter is designed


for PET recyclers. The company says that it is equipped with the latest advancements in polymer sorting to remove non-PET flakes from clear, blue, green and jazz applications. The technology uses a combination of transparent and reflective sorting simultaneously, to


www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com


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