Technology | sorting


virgin material, according to Frédéric Durand, Plastic Expert and Head of Tomra Sorting France. “However, for that we need to improve traceability to be sure that we recycle food grade product for food grade products,” he says. “We have bottle-to-bottle, bottle-to-flake and now food grade-to-food grade recycling. In addition, the industry needs to integrate the mono layer PET tray better.” Tomra’s latest development is the Autosort Flake. In


identify invisible and same-colour polymer contami- nants by their unique chemical signature, dramatically improving the separation of clear polymers from clear PET for higher grade bottle-to-bottle rPET. Bühler Sortex says that its PET recycling solution


also reinforces its sustainability strategy. “Sustainability is increasingly vital in the food industry,” says Gabauer. “Our new flake sorting technology enables customers to recycle more plastic, more efficiently and to a higher grade. It is a perfect fit with Bühler’s environmental goal of a 30% reduction in energy, water, and resources in all core processes by 2020.” As a result of the new offering, global OEM and


leading PET recycler STF recently switched to Bühler’s new process solution and was able to increase its yield of bottle-to-bottle grade rPET flakes by more than 30%. STF processes 130,000 tonnes of PET bottles each year for bottle-to-bottle grade rPET flakes and pellets. The company says that it needed the ability to achieve the highest value recyclate at the greatest possible yield – despite constantly changing input and contamination levels. The solution needed to separate valuable rPET accurately, regardless of contamination that could be between 5% and 30%, depending on the recycling practices of different countries. STF selected Bühler’s two machine solution, combining Sortex A ColorVision and Sortex E PolyVision, as well as bottle sorters from NRT for use at the front end of the production line. The company says that the combination provided a complete solution for plastic bottle and flake sorting, with higher value recyclate and increased profit margins. There is increased output quality and minimal loss of valuable product in the reject stream.


Virgin material quality For Tomra Sorting, current issues in plastics recycling include providing the industry with quality close to the


www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com June 2017 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 17


addition to sorting plastics, the company says that Auto- sort Flake also detects metal and its twin-processing mode offers good waste throughput together with a constant high quality output – all from a single machine. It also now incorporates the Reflect option, which allows more flexibility to sort all types of polymers by type and colour and can be upgraded with existing systems. The Autosort Flake combines colour detection and enhanced material information to maximise the recovery of high-quality recycled products, which markets now demand, says Tomra. Precision analysis and sorting of waste-stream flakes by colour and material at the same time is now possible. The Autosort Flake deploys Tomra’s Flying Beam


technology combined with the newly developed Fourline 2mm optic module, providing high NIR resolution. This feature provides continuous calibration to eliminate errors leading to downtime. The company says that it has low maintenance requirements and energy consumption. Steinert highlighted its technologies for sorting black plastics at the recent IdentiPlast event -- the 13th International Conference on the Recycling & Recovery of Plastics -- in Vienna and also at the Berlin Recycling and Raw Material Conference. Ernie Beker, Sales Manager at Steinert, emphasised how the recycling industry was placing high demands on sorting technol- ogy through machine capacities and increased through- put rates, as well as sorting performance. These


Left: PET recycling at STF Recycling


Below: Tomra Autosort Flake


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54