Sorting line for the Recycling Industry

High throughput Intelligent sorting with online material characterization

Sorting and recycling are important processes that help to conserve resources and reduce waste. Sorting is the process of separating materials or items into different groups based on their characteristics, such as their size, shape, or composition. This is often done to prepare materials for recycling or disposal.

Recycling is the process of converting materials that would otherwise be discarded into new products. It helps to conserve natural resources, such as trees and minerals, and reduce the environmental impact of waste by reducing the need to extract and process raw materials.

REVERSE METALLURGY | A cooperative R&D project supported by regional and european founds

As part of the project Reverse Metallurgy, Cilyx, in collaboration with Comet Treatment and the University of Liège, develops an intelligent high throughput sorting system for characterization of metallic automotive shredder residues for recycling purposes .

This solution is equiped with various sensors:

XRT (X-Ray Transmission) for measuring the density of the material.
3D to measure the shape parameters of the crushed objects.
Hyperspectral to measure its reflectance spectrum.

This solution allow a real-time high-speed classification of the different metallic objects with help of multiple robots used in parallel.

Cilyx

Benefits

Based on material characteristics rather than chemical or physical properties, this system offers the flexibility of multiple output streams, rather than a simple binary dichotomy.
Operates at a high throughput, ensuring rapid and efficient production.
Effectively manages tasks between robots, despite the close proximity of only 1.5 meters and the narrow width of the conveyor belt (1 meter), making coordination of movements complex and demanding.
Eliminates the need to outsource material sorting to Asia, typically done based on colors but often imprecise and potentially harmful to operators’ health.
Uses blowers to handle small items like end-of-line disks, thus addressing challenges related to their handling.