Tomra Recycling will feature its latest sorting innovations available to the plastics industry during NPE 2024 in Orlando, May 6-10, 2024, at Tomra exhibit #S35185. Team members will preview Tomra’s latest artificial intelligence (AI) technology, based on deep learning, available for cleaning recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) material streams. In addition, the company will offer insights into the updates available on the recently introduced Innosort Flake as well as the Autosort Flake sorting solutions.
Tomra’s latest breakthrough AI technology to improve plastics sorting accuracy, Gainnext leverages deep learning capabilities to make it possible to sort objects which could not be separated by traditional methods. Combined with industry leading Autosort technology, Gainnext classifies material based on sensor data, separating materials with high purity levels without compromising throughput speed.
One of the most recent applications for Gainnext aids in creating a pure recyclable PET fraction by removing difficult-to-detect plastic contaminants, such as multilayer packaging, to create a clean PET bottle stream. Leveraging AI, the PET cleaner application targets the separation of white opaque PET from clear and light blue PET, which, until now, was difficult to solve with traditional technology.
The latest in flake sorting
Delivering high-throughput purification of plastic flakes, the new Innosort Flake’s feature enhancements enable simultaneous flake sorting by polymer, color and transparency, achieving unmatched quality with high throughput and maximum yield. Its advanced near-infrared (NIR) spectrometer detects polymers from contaminated infeed, so mixed plastics are sorted into clean PET, polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE) and other fractions for extrusion. Enhanced optics with changeable color background and dual-sided high-resolution cameras detect millions of colors to create single-color fractions.
For high-end applications like bottle-to-bottle recycling where contamination of the infeed material is low, but quality requirements are high, Tomra Recycling offers the Autosort Flake sorter. It features a powerful combination of NIR spectrometer, full color camera and metal sensor to deliver simultaneous material, color and metal detection and achieve both extremely high purity and stable throughput. A high sensitivity electromagnetic sensor detects and removes the smallest ferrous and non-ferrous metals contaminants down to 1 mm (0.04 in) with maximum precision.
The complete solution
Flake sorting efficiency is enhanced with consistent, quality plastic feed material. Tomra Recycling team members will explain how the Tomra Autosort sets the stage for successful flake sorting by accurately presorting material at high throughput rates. Compact, highly flexible and upgradable, Autosort combines the latest Tomra technologies to deliver advanced accuracy for complex sorting tasks.
This includes Tomra Sharp Eye technology, which increases light efficiency while maintaining the same energy consumption to improve the separation of difficult-to-target fractions. Patented advanced Flying Beam sensing technology offers better light efficiency to enable higher performance at lower costs. Its compact design enables flexible and easy installation, while the enhanced light signal efficiency results in improved detection.
Tomra Recycling will also highlight how the Tomra Insight platform turns sorting machines into connected devices that generate process data. Users can access this near-real-time data anywhere at any time via a secure connection with a user-friendly interface on desktops and mobile devices. It provides digital metrics like throughput, material distribution across the belt, accept and rejection rates, and more to give operators the critical operating data to optimize sorting performance.
Tomra Recycling invites all NPE attendees to bring their sorting challenges to Tomra booth # S35185 during show hours May 6 - 10.
