SORTING | TECHNOLOGY
further optimises air flow geometry to provide twice the air ejection precision. The SpydIR-HS for the first time incorporates an NIR hyper spectral imaging (HSI) camera which offers full spectrum NIR detection, allowing for ten times the detection resolution. The sorter can be integrat- ed with Max-AI VIS (Visual Identification System), the company’s deep learning AI system which identifies recyclables much in the same way that a person does. The SpydID-HS with Max-AI VIS offers full spectrum detection and precise colour sorting capability, Brooks says. The combined unit can eject or suppress PET trays from a PET material stream or eject HDPE-N containers from a mixed HDPE stream. The optimised software gives operators greater
sorting flexibility, utilising the full spectrum detec- tion system to set custom thresholds and to quickly configure a new targeting profile through the graphic user interface machine controller. The com- pany’s robust software algorithms, combined with the spectral diversity of its HSI unit, create an optical sorter calibrated at the factory that does not need routine or auto calibration. The lifetime calibration is an improvement over NRT’s previous auto calibration, which itself was an advancement compared to the manual calibration necessary with competing optical sorters, says Brooks. In addition, SpydIR-HS can be paired with NRT’s MetalDirector for targeted recovery of metals. NRT also designed the unit for easy access to components for maintenance while keeping safety as a priority. The company said it has already sold numerous units which will be installed in multiple materials processing systems.
Polystyrene partnership Tomra Sorting Recycling has partnered with polystyrene producer Ineos Styrolution and Entsorgungsgesellschaft Niederrhein (EGN), a Germany-based waste disposal and materials recycling company, in a project to build a large- scale advanced mechanical recycling facility that will convert post-consumer PS waste into rPS for food packaging applications. “Our three compa- nies bring complementary expertise to this project, and because of this unique collaboration, we will be able to provide customers with high-performing circular polystyrene produced at a significantly lower carbon footprint,” says Steve Harrington, CEO of Ineos Styrolution. EGN will build the greenfield recycling plant,
expected to be the first large-scale facility of its kind, in Krefeld, Germany, with a capacity to mechanically process 40,000 tonnes of PS waste per year. The recycled material will be used in food
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contact applications. Start-up of the facility is scheduled for mid-2025. Tomra will provide sorting technology and feedstock materials under the partnership. Tomra Feedstock, part of its Collection division, will collect post-consumer polystyrene waste from disposed food packaging and deliver it to the new recycling plant. EGN will manage sorting and washing, while Ineos Styrolution will be responsible for the “super cleaning” purification process to comply with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) require- ments for food contact applications. Ineos Styrolu- tion will start serving customers on a commercial scale following start-up of the facility. According to Tomra, PS is proven to be one of the
best sortable plastics in the waste stream and is one of only two polymers that can achieve food-contact qualities with mechanical recycling. The material retains its inherent properties at virgin quality levels after many mechanical recycling cycles. Brand owners and customers are already showing interest in securing long-term contracts, Harrington says. Investment in commercial scaling of PS recycling will lead to a growing market share of the material and a reduction in packaging taxes and licensing fees in countries where such frame- works are in place. Berry Circular Polymers, Berry Global’s UK- based specialist in plastic waste recycling and compounding into sustainable polymers, selected advanced flake sorting equipment from Tomra for its purpose-built plant in Leamington Spa, Warwick- shire, to pre-sort and process post-consumer PP bales. Beginning in the spring of 2023, Berry installed five Tomra Autosort sensor-based sorting units and one Innosort Flake sorting unit at the plant, which is designed to process 48,000 tonnes of domestically recovered household PP annually. The sorted fractions will be purified using Berry’s
September 2023 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 17
Above: Tomra Autosort and Innosort Flake units have been installed at Berry Circular Polymers in Leamington Spa, UK
IMAGE: BERRY GLOBAL
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