TECHNOLOGY | SORTING
systems, to give customers an advantage. For example, with the colour separators and polymer separators it is possible to sort rPET flakes to achieve extremely clear and pure PET and in parallel it is also possible to achieve pure and consistent Jazz [a mix of coloured plastics] by reworking the rejected material that was previously impossible. As a result, the recyclers can now benefit from even more value for their material, while their customers benefit from more options and improved quality and consistency.” Vaks continues: “Our sorting equipment now
Above: Bernhard Gabauer, Head of Segment Plastics at Bühler Sortex (right), inspects rPET flakes with Josef Sollner, head of STF Group
domestic recycling, which could boost recycling industries and economies in the West. Consistency and purity always go hand in hand in the use of recycled materials, says Vaks. The market demands solutions that facilitate the removal of unwanted contaminants to assure the final quality. Every single type of polymer has its own unique challenges to achieve desired levels of purity. Gabauer adds: “Furthermore, recycling process- ing lines are being expanded or new larger plants built to accommodate the higher volumes of waste that must be recycled. Consequently, we have been supplying higher capacity optical sorting solutions to keep pace with the higher throughputs.” There are a number of technical areas of interest
Right: Bühler Sortex E PolyVision optical sorter
at present in sorting technology. “When separating materials, the first challenge is to achieve the desired quality,” says Vaks. “The second is the cost to achieve this quality, for example, how much good material is sacrificed to ensure the output meets the desired standard. A technically ad- vanced optical sorting system, such as Sortex’s complete solution, with superior camera and LED lighting technology results in enhanced precision sorting for the recovery of material with minimal losses. The flexible systems we offer are based around a number of highly configurable modular solutions offering seamless re-sort operations, resulting in highly optimised processing lines and, important- ly, enable much more consistent polymer separation. “As well as developing a state-of-the-art polymer sorting system for separating non-PET materials from rPET flakes, we have also improved the configuration of the overall
34 PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | September/October 2018
enables recyclers to produce recycled material that is as close to virgin quality as it ever has been. For example, historically consumers of recycled poly- mers could not rely on the purity of the recycled material and therefore often blended recycled with virgin material during the production stages to assure the quality of their end products. Some consumers blend as little as 20-25% of recycled material with 75-80% of virgin material. Bühler has worked on a number of projects where recyclers and consumers have been able to utilise optical sorting systems to enhance the quality of their recycled materials to improve the purity so that they could rely on the material enough to use 80-100% recycled material and only 0-20% of virgin material.” Bühler has a number of sorting options. “We
offer a portfolio of solutions among which are the Sortex B MultiVision that offers cost effective sorting and delivers a consistent performance for modern, mainstream sorting,” says Gabauer. “The Sortex E PolyVision removes polymer contaminants in PET recycling. It features a patent pending unique lighting system and high precision ejectors that will remove polymer contaminants of the same colour, such as PVC, PP and PE. It also uses a combination of transmissive and reflective sorting, simultaneously to reduce other polymers such as PS, PA, POM and silicone.”
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