TOMRA Sorting Unveils New Recycling Solutions for Polyolefins

TOMRA Sorting's latest applications of sensor-based flake sorting solutions now deliver unique recovery and purity rates for both polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), which are both polyolefins. Previously, TOMRA's flake sorting solutions focused primarily on polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Two optical flake sorting solutions – TOMRA's new INNOSORT FLAKE unit and AUTOSORT® FLAKE – form part of TOMRA's "Symphony of all Sorts" concept, which describes how TOMRA Sorting's newest AUTOSORT® and complementary products work together in perfect harmony as a symphony, sorting all types of waste with advanced precision and versatility.

The new INNOSORT FLAKE and AUTOSORT® FLAKE together add "the voices of pure flakes" to TOMRA's Symphony.

Flake sorting is performed as the final step of the bottle sorting process, following the fragmentation, screening, washing and drying of the input material. In the past, TOMRA Sorting's flake sorting capabilities focused on recovering PET flakes from mixed waste streams. With the enhanced performance now offered by INNOSORT FLAKE, TOMRA Sorting can now offer a fully optical sorting line that includes both bottle and flake sorting for polyolefins (PO) with perfectly matched machines. AUTOSORT® is used for pre-sorting of the material, while INNOSORT FLAKE is used for flake sorting. The first INNOSORT FLAKE, launched by TOMRA at the end of 2018, had a total width of 1 or 1.5 meters and was designed solely for PET flake sorting, whereas the new INNOSORT FLAKE version features a 2-meter width and leverages TOMRA's Near Infrared (NIR) FLYING BEAM® technology specific to PO and Dual Full-Color Camera technology to deliver high throughput.

FLYING BEAM® is the only NIR technology on the market that provides continuous automatic signal correction, the most stable and reliable sorting performance, as well as the lowest maintenance requirements and energy consumption.

Valerio Sama, Head of Recycling Product Management at TOMRA Sorting, stated: "The global polyolefin market is projected to approach four billion dollars by 2027, and as polyolefin consumption continues to rise, sorting polyolefins is becoming an increasingly important area in plastic recycling. We must be able to increase the purity and efficiency of recycled plastics to a level suitable for their reuse in food packaging. Additionally, as part of a circular economy model, we need to be able to reintroduce this material back into the cycle." William Zeng, Product Manager INNOSORT FLAKE at TOMRA Sorting Recycling, commented: "We are pleased to be the first company in the industry to combine dual-CRGB cameras and NIR PO-specific sensors in a single machine with the new INNOSORT FLAKE. Flakes can be sorted correctly even if both sides of the flakes are different colors. The unit's highly flexible modular design allows up to four channels to operate independently of each other, and the two-meter width makes it possible to perform multiple sorting steps – such as re-sorting and recovery – on the same machine and simultaneously. This is a development we are proud to be at the forefront of, and it represents an exciting advance in plastic recycling."