TOMRA showcases AI, plastic, and flake sorting technologies at NPE 2024
TOMRA Recycling will feature its latest sorting technologies at NPE 2024. Team members will preview TOMRA's latest artificial intelligence (AI) technology, based on deep learning, available for cleaning recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) material streams. TOMRA will also showcase updates on INNOSORT FLAKE as well as the AUTOSORT FLAKE sorting solutions.
TOMRA's GAINnext, an AI technology that leverages deep learning capabilities, sorts objects which could not be separated by traditional methods. Combined with AUTOSORT, GAINnext classifies material based on sensor data and provides object recognition using an RGB camera to separate 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, a task that has been difficult to solve with traditional technology.
TOMRA's INNOSORT FLAKE
In the updates to TOMRA's INNOSORT FLAKE, the company has added enhancements to enable simultaneous flake sorting by polymer, colour, and transparency, achieving quality with high throughput. 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 colour backgrounds and dual-sided high-resolution cameras detect millions of colours to create single-colour 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 combination of an NIR spectrometer, full-colour camera, and metal sensor to deliver material, colour, and metal detection and achieve both high purity and stable throughput. A high-sensitivity electromagnetic sensor detects and removes the smallest ferrous and non-ferrous metal contaminants down to one millimetre (0.04 inches) with maximum precision.
TOMRA AUTOSORT
Flake sorting efficiency is enhanced with consistent, quality plastic feed material. At NPE 2024, TOMRA Recycling team members will explain how the TOMRA AUTOSORT helps set the stage for successful flake sorting by accurately presorting material at high throughput rates. AUTOSORT utilizes TOMRA's technologies to deliver ideal accuracy for sorting tasks.
AUTOSORT utilizes TOMRA SHARP EYE technology, which increases light efficiency while maintaining the same energy consumption to improve the separation of difficult-to-target fractions. 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 operating data to help optimize sorting performance.
