TECHNOLOGY | SORTING
Above: Sesotec Flake Purifier+ conducts fine sorting of PET flakes at Futurapet in Turkey
facility originates from Remondis’ MRFs for post- consumer packages. RE Plano enlists a range of separating technologies to remove contaminants, such as eddy current separators and optical detection systems.
RE Plano buys waste plastic, produces and sells
recycled plastics as pellets, compounds and ground products, and trades in waste plastic and plastic. It also manages waste plastic for business- es, retailers and waste management companies. It offers quality-certified plastics under the brand names Planoled (PE), Planoprop (PP), and Planomid (PA). It will extend its portfolio to include recycled PS under the Planorol name, as soon as the new Bochum facility is operating at a commercial scale, says the company. Engin Grup, an Istanbul, Turkey based marketer and distributer of cosmetic and household prod- ucts for Turkey and the Caucasus region, estab- lished a plastics waste recycling business with the creation of its Futurapet entity in 2020. The com- pany incorporates a range of recycling technolo- gies from Sesotec to produce high-quality rPET to supply the plastics processing industry. Futurapet receives plastic bottles pressed into
bales that are broken up with a ballistic sifter separating light materials, followed by the separa- tion of non-ferrous and ferrous metals. After washing and drying, the pressed bottles are sent to a Sesotec Variosort+ N flexible sorting system designed for the sorting of plastic bottles and trays. The latest generation Variosort+ N unit has a working width up to nearly 3 m (2,816 mm). It carries out multi-stage separation by incorporating an NIR sensor to distinguish the different types of materials, an all metal sensor and a colour and shape sensor to separate PET bottles from all other types of plastic, such as non-PET bottles, labels or films. The Variosort+ N unit at Futurapet also incorpo- rates Sesotec’s Flash CN unit into the equipment, to
24 PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | September 2023
further separate the PET bottles by colour detec- tion. Flash CN technology is comprised of reflected and transmitted light units that distinguish the finest colour nuances in transparent, non-transpar- ent and semi-transparent materials. Flash CN uses two valve bars to sort the PET fraction into three different chutes. Desired material (clear and light blue PET) falls through the natural fall curve of the free-fall system into the middle chute. Non-PET and PET coloured fractions are selectively separated and sent to one of the other two chutes. A second Variosort+ Flash CN sorting system is used to further separate the fractions. According to Futurapet, the special feature of this second device is that by dividing the three-metre-wide speed adjustable conveyor belt and subdividing it into three chutes, sorting of six different fractions can be realised. On the left-hand conveyor track, the second sorting step is repeated in order to achieve a very high degree of purity in bottle sorting for the clear and blue PET fraction. On the right lane, the material rejected from the three sorting stages is returned via a re-sorting step back to the first Variosort+ N sorter. The company says this setup achieves minimum material loss at maximum output rates. The clear PET bottle fraction is shredded,
washed, dried and encounters an air separation step. A Sesotec Flake Purifier+ conducts fine sorting of the flakes. The unit is also equipped with a metal sensor, colour and shape sensor and NIR sensor to detect and separate contaminant colours, polymer types and metal from the PET flake. Sesotec installs its Octo-core control technology in the Variosort+ and Flake Purifier+ units, which enables parallel signal processing of sensor information. The high-quality rPET flakes are packaged in big bags which are checked by the in-house laboratory by random sample analysis. A Sesotec Flake Scan Material analysis system uses integrated sensors to quickly and reliably analyse the material sample, eliminating labour-intensive sample analysis.
CLICK ON THE LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION: �
https://global.canon �
https://www.nrtsorters.com �
www.tomra.com �
www.ineos-styrolution.com �
www.berryglobal.com �
www.amprobotics.com �
www.pellencst.com �
www.buhlergroup.com �
https://steinertglobal.com �
www.sesotec.com �
www.aim.be �
www.digitalwatermarks.eu
www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com
IMAGE: SESOTEC
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