NIR Sorting

EXAMPLES OF USE THE NIR SORTING

Sensor sorting with near-infrared technology is suitable for a wide range of recycling materials. Systems for NIR sorting are widely used today. This is because they help to increase accuracy and efficiency in recycling. Common applications include almost all types of recycling materials.

These include:

Lightweight packaging
Packaging waste
Pre-sorted recyclables
Household waste
Commercial waste
Mixed construction waste
Scrap vehicles

We are pleased to advise you on how to increase the recycling rate of your materials with the help of NIR sorting and our SPALECK Screening Technology.
For this purpose we offer you the test of your materials in our TestCenter. Of course, you can further process the materials prepared this way in the test centers of the manufacturers of NIR sorting systems. This is daily practice for us. We would be happy to help you with this.

SPALECK screening machines delivering plastic films and light packaging materials to NIR sorters

What is a NIR sorting system?

Sensor sorting by use of near infrared spectra

NIR sorting systems are fully automated sorting systems that sort a wide variety of materials according to their near-infrared spectrum. They belong to the group of sensor-based sorting. In recycling, it is a modern and at the same time established technique for reliably sorting materials according to their molecular composition. The interaction of the recycling technology used plays a key role here. For example, screening machines, feed bunkers and conveyors perform elementary preliminary work so that NIR sorting can be carried out economically.

How does NIR sorting work?

Near Infrared Spectroscopy

In NIR sorting, the recycling material is fed to the NIR sorting system via a conveyor belt. A light source installed above the conveyor belt irradiates the different recyclables with infrared light. This physical analysis technique uses infrared rays in the range of 760 – 2500 nm. Depending on the material, sometimes more and sometimes less of the wavelengths are reflected. Based precisely on this information, which wavelengths are absorbed or reflected, the NIR sorting device assigns the individual piece of material to a specific material class.

Close up of plastic films recycling materials on a belt feeding a nir sorting device

Advantages of NIR sorting

Fast and accurate sorting of recycled materials
Cost-efficient, if material is optimally fed to the NIR sorting device
Adaptable to changing material mixes
Good scalability for high volume flows
Can be combined with other recycling technologies such as laser technology, electromagnetic sensors, X-ray technology and X-Ray sorting
Also suitable for small particle detection
High purity grade of the sorted fractions

Disadvantages of NIR sorting

Fairly high startup investment
Economic efficiency requires high loading density and complete utilization of the machine width (here SPALECK offers very practice-proven concepts for optimal loading of the NIR sorters)
Risk of caking and sticking depending on material
More complex maintenance and calibration

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How can I increase the result of my NIR sorting system?

The interaction of technology makes the difference

The goal and necessity in recycling is to process large volume flows in the best possible way. This is necessary so that recycling can be carried out economically. Thanks to the technical design of the screening machines and conveyors which are specially designed for your recycling process, your NIR sorting equipment is fed very constantly. This enables very high throughputs. At the same time, it allows the material to be separated so that the NIR technology can detect it optimally. You thus obtain a monolayer in the feed width matched to the NIR equipment. This enables perfect feeding and a very good separation result.

PET, HDPE, PP, LDPE, PA

High performance near infrared sorting

Recycling has made significant progress in recent years. The further development of the state of the art has played a major role in this.

For a more sustainable future and to meet the increasing regulatory requirements for recycling, NIR systems are becoming more capable in the context.

Recycling plant for household and MSW with SPALECK screening machine

NIR SORTING – WHY THE FEED OF THE MATERIAL IS CRUCIAL

Modern NIR sorting equipment can be true high-performers and game changers in terms of sorting quality. In practice, it has been shown that a holistic view of the recycling process is crucial for this. Specifically, it is elementarily important to design the material feed, the screening process and the feed to the NIR sorting equipment in the best possible way. For this SPALECK is the right partner!

With the help of our SPALECK TestCenter, our close cooperation with leading manufacturers of NIR equipment and the experience gained from many international customer projects, we can work with you to implement high-performance recycling processes with high-performance conveying & separation technology.