‘Black plastic is one of the biggest problems in recycling’


depending on the type of material being sorted, but one material that pushes technological limits – and one that Sesotec says the photonics industry could help support – is black plastic. “Black plastic is one of the


biggest problems in recycling,” said Tobias Eder, Sesotec’s Manager of Application Engineering & Technology, during a recent EPIC online technology meeting on plastic sorting, recycling and waste management. Most black plastic packaging


– widely used in electronics, food containers, plastic bags and the automotive industry – is coloured using carbon black pigments that prevent typical technologies employed in sorting instruments, such as near-infrared (NIR) sensors or CCD line cameras, from detecting it reliably. Te company is looking for


a reliable technology that can detect black polymers, with a detection accuracy comparable to near-infrared, Eder said. “At


the moment, we only have some capability using mid-infrared sensors but it is not at the same level of NIR, and they have to be used in combination with other sensors.” He added that, while there have been research and industry projects focused on this application, “there are no real results that are possible at the industrial scale at the purities our customers need”. In addition to sensors, the company is looking for high-power LEDs in the 1,300- 1,900nm wavelength to permit the detection of darker plastics, but to also allow it to replace halogen bulbs and reduce the power consumption of its machines. In its machines, Sesotec uses


both CCD line scan cameras and NIR sensors. Te CCD cameras can detect by shape, colour and separate coloured materials from a clear fraction. Tey have a resolution of up to .075mm and can be taught to read around 17 million colours in combination with different illumination optics. Varying lighting options can be used, depending on the application – for example, transmitted light detects transmission in a transparent material, or a top light detects the reflection of opaque material. For NIR detection, the


41st


Motek


International trade fair for automation in


production and assembly


D 10.–13. October 2023 a Stuttgart


g


- Assembly systems and basic systems


- Handling technology - Process technology for joining, machining, inspection and identification


- Components for special machine manufacturing - Software and services


Sesotec provides sorting machines for plastic recycling, and says the imaging and photonics industry could help it address challenges it faces with plastics


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Organizer: SP. E. SCHALL GmbH & Co. KG T +49 (0) 7025 9206-0 motek@schall-messen.de


Sesotec


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