Addressing difficult
paper, plastic, metal
and glass sorting
p r o b h requires the
devebprnent of some
innovative rnethods,
or simply adapting
technology from other
established industries.
By Mark PhiZZips
60
July
1996
RECYCLING
TODAY
omething old; something
new; something borrowed;
something blue. This traditional bride-to-be rhyme
could easily apply to the
recycling industry which uses oid and
new sorting technologies; has
borrowed some technologies from
other industries; and uses blue bins
and bags in many cases to designate
recyclables. Together, all four areas
combine to make the sorting of
various recyclables a productive
process, but it’s the “new”and
‘‘~=rr~~~;e-j’!
t e & r , ~ ! ~ m that
~ c are of
W--particular interest to processors as
they look for ways to become more
productive and profitable.
Although it is not possible to focus
on every minor advance in sorting
technology, processes to sort mixed
broken glass, paper from cardboard,
and the multiple grades of plastics are
of particu!ar interest beczdse G f t!e
challenges these areas present.
SORTING BROKEN GLASS
Several new glass sorting systems have
appeared in the United States
recycling market - but they aren’t
actually new at all. One company,
Countec Recycling Systems, Des
Moines, Iowa, recently introduced
into the U.S. a proven glass cullet
sorting system from Europe. The
system, made by SEA International,
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Fax:314/781-9209
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PULVERIZER COMPANY
62
Phone: 314/781-6100
Fax:314/781-9209
Circle 58 on reader service card
JULY1996
RECYCLING
TODAY
Villanova,Italy, was originally used in the food processing
industiy to sort different grains of ricc, cofree beans and other
foods. Then, several years ago, the technology was adapted fbr
the glass recycling industry and units began appearing at @ass
manufacturing plants throughout Europe.
The SEA lGOV sorting machine is capable of a binaiy sort
of glass cullet by using 64 optical sensors and directed blasts of
air to identifjr and
remove targeted
materials such as
ceramics, metals or
colored cullet.
AnocherEuropean
company,S+S
Metdlsuchgerate in
Germany has a similar
system that is being
markct ed by C a r p
Inc.,Jacksonville, Fla.
The s+sdevice, called
theJAG 8100,separates
the cullet by color using
mixcd-colorlasers and
filters for identificahn
and air blas~sfor
Carpco’s new three-stage AFS
p;irticle rcmoval. ‘The
separator is targeted toward
machinc also avoids
Processing chopped wireFalse separations caused
by dirt o r paper labels
because the laser measures the wavelength in the colored glass.
Carpco hasjust started marketing the system in the U.S.
TheJAC;8100 can be combined with <:arpco’s MALA(:,
1024/4 detector/separator that uses m a p t i c s and multichannel lasers to detect tnetals and non-transparent iinpurities (such as ceramics). The impurities are removed with
pinpoint blasts of air.
Yet another new cullet separation machine made by
Binder of Austria is also available on the market, and
Magnetic Separation Systems, Nashville, has introduced its
third generation glass sorter called ELKE that has an
upgraded detection array sensing system.
“The driving force for these types of machines in Europe
has been the glass industry,” says Richard White, director of
sales and marketing for Countec. “They have taken the lead
in this area because the glass manufacturers want ciualily
postconsumer cullet. Over there, a typical bottle has about
90 percent recyclable content. One piant, for instance, has 13
of these glass sorting machines doing various sorts.”
The SEA 160V should pay for itself in about a year, accoi ding to White. “If a MRF is receiving about 1 to 8 tons of mixed
broken glass an hour, then the payback can happen hirly
quickly.”
BORROWED FROM MINING
More borrowed technology for recycling comes fi-omthe
mining industry. Deister Concentrator Co., Fort Wayne, hid.,
has been making its concentrating tables for mining operations
since 1906, but it was only last year that the company began to
truly target the recycling industry. The technology was first
used to recover particles of gold from soil.
- - - ----I- :- *-:+L ‘,-,A
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I ne iauirb
WUIK 111 ~aidr;iii
---.
targeted materials from chopped, flaked or fine waste streams
that contain numerous types of materials. By immersing the
material stream in water, the system can sort out a target
”
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__
materialby concentrating on that
material’s specific gravity in relation to
water and the specific gravities of the
other materials. Thus, those particles
with the same specific gravity concentrate together and can be effectively
separated and removed.
Deister is currently targetingwire
chopping operations, shredder fluff
and material streams from computer
and integrated chip recovery operations. The company will accept samples
of materialstreams and conduct
separation tests for free at its Fort
Wayneheadquarters.
“From the last show we were at we
received about 50 samples of various
material streams for testing,” says Nick
Griffith,president of Deister. “So,we
arejust beginning to see what we C;UI do.”
Ciffith says that the company is
going another step further toward
enhancing and customizing its system
for the recycling industiy by developing
add-ons that will make the tables and
cyclones part of a new closed-loop
recycling system. “Basically,all you will
have to do is push a button and stand
back,”says Griffith.
In addition, the company is
working on buildinga prototype site
somewhere in the South that will be a
working recycling opemtion. “Itwill
allow us to better demonstrate our
capabilities,”adds Griffith.
Another company that has
transi tioned mining technology over
New Binary Bottlesort systems from
to the recycling industry is Carpco. “It MSS await shipment to France to be
installed in a plastic recycling facility.
really is a natural fit because of the
commonalitiesbetween separating
mineral particles and recyclable
Kinematics, Barrington, Ill., develcommodities,”saysJulie Holloway of
oped its DeStoner first for cleaning
Carpco. “In both industriesthe natural
up sawdust from lumber mills, then
properties of the material are being
found that, with slight modifications,
examined and evaluated - is it conducthe iliachine could be used in the
tive or not, is it heavy or light - so that
recycling industry.The De-Stoner is
it can be separated.”
currently being used to sort commingled streams based on density and
Carpco has a new processor,just
particlesize using vibratingand air
commissioned at press time, that
fluidizing sections.
targets chopped wire. The new system,
desibmated AFS, is a threescage
machine that uses dispersion,tlotat ion
SPECIAL SCREENS
and screening to separate the metal
In the fiber processingarea, special
screens have been adopted or dcvelfrom the plastic without contaminating
the end products.
oped to effectively sort old corriigxtcd
In another crossover area, Geneid
cardboard from p p e r . Van Dyk lkiler
For more information, call today.
64
JULY1996
RECYCLING
TODAY
I
B.H.S. OCC/Separator TM
Circle 59 on reader service card
I
Corp., Stamford, Conn., has adapted a
sorting screen called Starscreen that is
made by Lubo Equipment in the
Netherlands.The screen was originally
designed for the composting and
construction and demolition debris
recycling industries about 18 years
ago, but was crossed over to the fiber
recycling arena only recently. It uses
rubber star-shaped disks that rotate in
a pre-configured series. The fingers of
the stars bounce the OCC over the
screen, and grab the paper downward
through the rotating disks.
According to Erik van Dijk, vice
president of Van Dyk Baler, the screen
can also sort commingledcontainers,
q a r a t i n g whole bottles and cans from
broken ones and other contaminants,
or it can sort a fiber mix with occasional non-fiber conmiinants.
Anothernew OCC/paper screening
system is made by Bulk Handling
Systems Inc., Eugene, Ore., and it also
uses specially-shapeddisks. The sorter
has been on the market for-justmore
than a year.
The machine sorts OCC and paper
by using a unique, patented screen
called a Debris Roll Screen. The screen
is made up of non-circular, in-line disks
that, through their rotation, create an
agitation. The action throws OCC
foiward and lets paper drop down. The
company currently has three models up
to a 25-ton-per-hourcapacity.
“Thesystem can also be used for
commingled streams, where there
may be broken glass or other contaminants in the fiber streani,” says Sean
Austin, sales and marketing manager
for Bulk Handling Systems.
Austin dso says that die disks in his
separator can be made of rubber or
steel,but the rubber is becoming more
popular because it grabs the OCC
better when throwing it.
A FASTLR PLASTIC SORT
In the plastic bottle sorting arena,
MagneticSeparationSystems has
recently developed a followon generation sorter that has a higher throughput than previous systems. It’s called
the Binaiy BottleSortSystem.
This new systemjust went on the
market, and it differs from the original
BottleSort machine that was introduced
in 1991 in two major ways. First, the
Binary system only sorts out one target
resin at a time, whereas the original
BottleSort sorts multiple resins at once.
Secondly, the Binary system has a much
higher throughput because it looks at
the bottles across a single layer (calleda
non-singulatingprocess),whereas the
other system examines each bottle
individually(a singulatingprocess).
“In the original Bottlesort, each
bottle was examined as it came down
the line,” says Derek Vaughan, marketing director of MagneticSeparation
Systems.“But in the Biilaiy system, the
bottles are laid across in a single layer
and the detecting array looks at the
grouping as it passes by. If it finds a
bottle that is not the target resin, then a
jet of air above the layer blows it out.
Because of this method, and because
the machine is only targeting one type
of resin, the throughput can be up to
5,000 pounds per hour per line
depending on the model chosen, as
compared lo only 1,250 pounds per
Are you reading
someone else’s
1
I
4
To become a
5ub w i ber ca 1I:
RECYCLING
TODAY
JULY1996
65
SUPERSONIC SEPARATION
hour for the original BottleSort. Plus,
the Binay machine is only about 20
feet long, compared to 60 feet for the
original BottleSort system.”
Depending on the desired sortation,
the Binaiy system can be aligned in
series to conduct multiple sorts like the
originalBotdeSort.
National Kecoveiy Technologies
Inc., Nashville, is working on a laserbased plastic sorting system using a
detection array that would also he nonsingulatingand would kick out targeted
resin types via an air blast or other
method. “The system can he used for
all forms of plastic streams, and notjust
bottles,” says Guy Wentworth, vice
president of NRT. “We already have a
working model, and wejust need to
add the ejection method.”
Last year, NRT introduced its nonsingulatingMultiSort plastic sorting
system that uses optics to sort bottles by
color or resin.
One plastic sorting area that has had
little development is in the sorting of
(continurd on page 98)
If the recent movie “Twister” has you feeling just a little
helpless and terrified of the vile vortexes, then think of
what it would be like as a oiece of comoosite olastic inside
an Ultrasonic Vortex Geneiator as you spin faster than the
speed of sound. The new ultrasonic separation system, which is made by the
Swiss company Result AG and marketed in the United States by Result North
America (formerly HGI), Asheville, N.C., uses the super high-speed USVG to
accomplish two steps, First, it neutralizes the material bonds and adhesive forces
that hold the different types of particles together. Thus, plastic is liberated from
metal, and so on. Second, it turns plastic particles into flakes and metals into
small spheres. Once this happens, the materials can be separated according to
their densities.
The complete system employs other pieces of equipment such as a preshredder, metal separator, screw conveyors, shaker tables and air knives all
connected by various types of conveyors.
According to Jerry Hoffmann, vice president of Result N.A., the system allows a
very efficient separation and classification of materials with purity levels of up to
99 percent. Hoffmann claims that the system can effectively recycle all types of
composites and laminates including fine plastic-coated wires, automotive
dashboards and trim items such as chromed plastics and bumpers. Even
automotive shredder residue can be separated, says Hoffmann, along with
computer circuit boards and other computer and electronic waste material.
“The advantage to this system is that it does not employ heat or chemicals,”
says Hoffmann. “It takes place under ambient conditions, so there are no toxic
vapors or other harmful substances emitted.”
Efficient, performance proven vibrating
classifier for MRF systems
With three decades of experience in custom design and building
vibratory equipment,General Kinematics brings new efficiency to
recycling operations The single knife DE-STONER IS
capable of separating and classifying MSW, RDF
fuel, and other commingled materials, even
in the toughest applications
Completely dly system operation.
Unique vibratory action plus high
velocity/low volume air streams fluidize
and separate materials
Adaptable to a wide variety of
mixed materials and combinations.
Few moving parts Virtually jam-proof
Heavy-duty construction
For details, request your free copy of
Bulletin 1091 today
General Kinematics Corporation
777 Lake Zunch Road, Barnngton, IL 60010
Phone 8471381 -2240 ax 8471381 -1 376
KI
\?
Sqgatps
plastic/aluminum from
glass containers
baaemhip in vinraiingFmcess Equipmiif
General Kinematics equipment also manufactured in Australia,
Canada, Japan, Mexico, sweaen, unltea Kingdom
GK8909R
~~
66
JULY1996
RECYCLING
TODAY
~
~~
Circle 6 1 on reader service card
ROBOTIC SORTING
Sorting
(continued front bape 6 6 )
rigid resin containers, such as butter
tubs. But according to Peter Dinger,
director of technology for the American Plastics Council, Washington,
research is currently progressing in this
area.
“We are working with a company
to sort out tub resins by using size
characteristics,”he says. “Thesystem is
a singulating sorting system,”says
Dinger, “and we are trying to run the
lower profile plastic tubs through and
identifythem due to their size then kick
them out of the stream. The biggest
concern right now is processing
throughput efficiency.”
Others in the industry look to
special identification codes that could
be integrated into the plastic packaging
itself, making resin recognition and
mechanical sortingeasier.
The drive to make the sorting
process more costeffcient, combined
with advances in computer-processing
National Recovery Technologies, Nashville, Tenn., recently received a U.S.
Dept. of Energy grant of more than $700,000 to develop a system that would
sort commingled recyclable streams using robotics.
The sorting method involves robotic arms or devices on a picking line that
would replace manual labor, Under this system, a programmer would view the
incoming waste stream via a console and initiate signals to the robotics to
remove items off the line. The company has two years to develop the system
under DOEguidelines. “We have already demonstratedthat this could work while
maintaining the same throughputof a manual handpicking line,”says Guy
Wentworth, vice president of NRT, ”butwith reduced labor costs.”
technology, will likely shape the way
recyckables are sorted in the future.
Because of tlie cyclical nature of‘
tlie recycling business, prices for
materials fluctuate drastically. Thus,
those who can sort materials more
economically will have an advantage.
Helping recyclers achieve that goal
will be a dramatic leap in computer
processingand miniaturization.
“We are heading toward a time in
the plastic sorting segment, for
example,when the technology will
allow companies to reduce the number
of steps it takes to process material,”
says Vaughan. “The computer
processing and storage technology is
moving so fast that soon the same
amount of information that is now
stored on a compact disk will be
stored on a disk the size of a penny.”
Vaughan says that these advances
will allow developers of sorting
equipmentto design machines that can
conduct more complicated sorts faster.
Plus, the technoloby will allow the
machines to remain affordable.
RT
The author is managing editor OJ‘
RecyclingToday.
Jeramy Glynn
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98
JULY1996
RECYCLING
TOOAY
W ~ L