Colour sorting system from TOMRA Recycling delivers precision recovery of copper, brass, and PCBs
With object-level sorting down to a few millimeters, the FINDER COLOR system improves yield and accuracy while adapting to evolving market demands
TOMRA Recycling's FINDER COLOR is a new high-throughput solution designed to meet the evolving needs of the scrap metal recycling and e-scrap processing industries. The colour sorting system is engineered to deliver high purity and recovery levels at high throughput across a broad spectrum of metals sorting tasks.
FINDER COLOR is particularly effective for recovering valuable materials such as copper and brass from mixed heavy metals, cleaning stainless steel fractions (including those from end-of-life vehicles) and achieving high-level purification of printed circuit boards (PCBs) from mixed e-scrap. It is capable of processing grain sizes from 0.2 to 4.7 inches (6-120mm) and delivering throughput of up to 22.4 tons (20 tonnes) per hour on Zorba material.
The new FINDER COLOR is a flexible system that combines hardware and software with advanced AI algorithms to adapt to changing material streams and market demands. Its core features an ultra-precise RGB camera and advanced AI-powered object singulation technology, enabling accurate, object-level sorting down to a few millimeters, even when objects are overlapping, adjacent or the same colour as the belt. This single-camera system sorts materials by colour, size, and shape, providing operators with control and accuracy.
For enhanced purification, an optional electromagnetic (EM) sensor can be added. This is particularly useful for sorting materials with similar colours. The optional high-sensitivity EM sensor enhances metal recovery from mixed streams in batch mode, supporting PCB classification in e-scrap, or complementing the RGB sensor to add an extra purification layer against plastic contamination.
The system also offers easy configuration for both batch and continuous flow sorting, with fast switching between different fractions. This allows operators to quickly change which material they are sorting, such as switching from copper one day to brass the next.
FINDER COLOR's compact and simple design ensures easy integration into existing sorting lines, while its maintenance platform and accessible valve block are engineered for simple and efficient servicing. The machine can be connected for optimized, data-driven sorting through TOMRA Insight, an optional cloud-based data platform.
"Feedback from our metals customers highlighted the need for a highly flexible sorting machine to cover a wide range of sorting tasks," explains Tom Jansen, head of Metal Segments at TOMRA Recycling. "After 25 years of offering colour sorters, we continue to see strong demand for versatile, highly accurate, reliable, and cost-efficient solutions. FINDER COLOR pushes the boundaries of what colour sorting machines can achieve with applications like separating stainless steel from a mixed fraction of other grey metals, such as zinc and aluminum, and purifying e-scrap to help customers maximize their output and stay competitive."
FINDER COLOR can be used as a standalone machine, following magnetic separation, or to extract value from heavy metals removed by XRT technology, such as TOMRA's X-TRACT. It is also a last-step sorting solution for extracting value from PCBs in e-scrap and can be used to sort stainless steel and wire from material recovered using TOMRA's FINDER unit.
