Machines sort colored PCR from natural.Optical sortation Identifying objects that are stamped with a bar code and routing them to the appropriate destination. Sortation is typically a high-speed process used in the transportation industry by companies such as Federal Express, UPS and others. See sort and bar code. devices originally designed for food processing are now being applied to plastics recycling. ScanMaster and ColorMaster sortation systems are available from Houston-based ESM (1) (Enterprise Storage Management) Managing the online, nearline and offline storage within a large organization. It includes analysis of storage requirements as well as making routine copies of files and databases for backup, archiving, disaster recovery, International Inc., a subsidiary of Satake Corp. of Japan. (ESM recently appointed Tex America Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., to be its southeastern representative. Tex America specializes in marketing plastic and other waste-recovery systems.) ScanMaster and ColorMaster optical sortation systems can separate opaque from natural HDPE HDPE abbr. high-density polyethylene or green from clear PET. Both units can sort material in flake or pellet form. The machines are top-fed from vibratory feeders. Each system uses a monochromatic monochromatic /mono·chro·mat·ic/ (-kro-mat´ik) 1. existing in or having only one color. 2. pertaining to or affected by monochromatic vision. 3. staining with only one dye at a time. electronic (CCD CCD in full charge-coupled device Semiconductor device in which the individual semiconductor components are connected so that the electrical charge at the output of one device provides the input to the next device. ) camera array to sense light reflected from the plastic material as it passes by on a chute or conveyor. The controller then triggers small air valves to blow aside the rejected material while the acceptable material passes by. The air valves are spaced 1 cm apart over the scan width. ColorMaster is a two-pass, conveyor-belt system designed to separate colored resin that constitutes 5% or less of the mix. Flake sortation rates for a machine with 500-mm belt width can average 3000 lb/hr for clear PET and 2000 lb/hr for natural HDPE. Output rates may be up to 80% greater with a 900-mm belt width. FOR HIGH CONTAMINANT LEVELS Originally developed as a rice sorter, the ScanMaster is a gravity-slide device that can separate material with a colored-resin level of 20% and above. Flake sortation rates can be as high as 3000 lb/hr for PET and 1500 lb/hr for HDPE. A company looking to sort material with a contaminant-component level between 5% and 20% would need to conduct tests to choose between a ScanMaster and ColorMaster. ESM manufactures and sells the ScanMaster and modifies the Japanese-made ColorMaster for sale here. ESM has sold a ColorMaster to Phillips Recycling Co., Tulsa, Okla., which is using the machine to separate natural HDPE bottle flake from colored HDPE and PP caps in its 40-million-lb/yr facility. A PET processor in the Northeast is also using a ColorMaster to separate a small amount of green PET from its clear PET stream. And a third company is using the ScanMaster for purification of post-industrial PVC PVC: see polyvinyl chloride. PVC in full polyvinyl chloride Synthetic resin, an organic polymer made by treating vinyl chloride monomers with a peroxide. granulate gran·u·late v. gran·u·lat·ed, gran·u·lat·ing, gran·u·lates v.tr. 1. To form into grains or granules. 2. To make rough and grainy. v.intr. . Depending on the application, a ColorMaster 500-mm unit or a ScanMaster may cost about $125,000, while a ColorMaster 900-mm unit may cost around $200,000. |
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