Pellenc ST optimises thousands of tonnes of waste for RWM 2012

Pellenc Selective Technologies (or Pellenc ST) designs, manufactures and markets optical-sorting machines for the sorting and re-use of household and industrial waste, from plastic to fibrous and organic waste. The company will exhibit at RWM in Birmingham (England) from 11 to 13 September 2012 (Stand 18M39).

The solutions supplied by Pellenc ST have a positive impact on plastic recovery in materials recovery facilities (MRFs) and in the plastic recycling industry, as well as in the sorting of municipal solid waste (or MSW, i.e. general household waste).

Pellenc ST’s machines use near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR), vision and induction technology, as well as sensors designed to work with fibrous and organic materials. Coming from a number of sectors — including packaging, automotive, computers, electronics and construction — once sorted, all materials can be re-used. Pellenc ST’s machines allow for the optimisation of re-usable-materials recycling to the tune of thousands of tonnes each year.

Pellenc ST has used its patented expertise in spectroscopy to produce the MISTRAL DUAL VISION — the specialist company’s new combined sorting machine for the detection of both material and colour.

This new sorting machine can sort families of materials by analysing both the type of resin and its colour. In one single operation, the MISTRAL DUAL VISION can separate three types of plastics in an MRF: light polyethylene terephthalate (PET), dark PET, and high-density polyethylene (HDPE).

Applications that require simultaneous sorting of the material and the colour cover waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). The plastic-recycling industry also relies on the separation of clear and light-blue PET and on the separation of white and clear HDPE.

Additionally, the MISTRAL DUAL VISION sorts PVC and polystyrene labels and sleeves in parallel with great accuracy, allowing for a PVC content of less than 10 parts per million (ppm) and eliminating other contaminants such as residual metal fractions.

MISTRAL DUAL VISION combines two technologies patented by Pellenc ST: infrared spectroscopy and colour spectroscopy. The two technologies work together, using the same pixels, and merge the data concerning the nature of the material and its colour. With the new Pellenc ST patented SPIN spectrometer, it is now also possible to select the optimum wavelength. Thanks to ultra-high-performance lighting and the high quality of the optical signal, all materials and colours are detected even right down to dark objects and those with little colour.

Performance is significantly improved — with a gain of five to 10 points in performance — allowing for a resulting quality that is close to raw materials.

Optical sorting is essential for the recovery of re-usable materials in the waste stream for MSW. To meet recycling targets better and to continue to reduce the environmental impact caused by landfill and incineration, it is now important to take mixed waste into consideration. Although often considered unsuitable for re-use, residual household waste can now be processed effectively, recovering plastics, mixed paper and organic materials. This is thanks to the development of new technologies such as Pellenc ST’s optical sorting solutions.

In the MISTRAL range, Pellenc ST’s sorting machines for the recovery of re-usable materials are used both before and after the pre-fermentation stage. The company’s machines recover household packaging waste such as PET; HDPE and polypropylene (PP); food cartons; flat items (such as paper and cardboard); and, finally, plastic film.

For its part, MISTRAL BIO is a newly developed machine fitted with a dedicated sensor that recovers the waste’s biodegradable fraction with a high degree of purity, therefore optimising results for the sorting of MSW. Performance can reach 80% efficiency and 95% purity, with an output of 12 tonnes per hour.

The precision of infrared detection technology, featured in MISTRAL BIO, enables the elimination of all chloride fractions, such as PVC, which is unsuitable for waste streams intended for energy recovery, including refuse-derived fuel (RDF).

As manual sorting is used at the quality-control stage, after the stage where optical-sorting solutions are relied upon, these solutions also help to significantly improve production teams’ working conditions, especially on processes that concern residual household waste.

About Pellenc Selective Technologies

Founded in 2004, Pellenc Selective Technologies (Pellenc ST) is a pioneering company in the automatic sorting of household and industrial waste. The French-based company has over 140 employees, with 15% of the staff working in the R&D department. As part of its international expansion, Pellenc ST has installed 700 of its machines in more than 40 countries.

Pellenc ST will exhibit on Stand 18M39 at the Recycling and Waste Management Exhibition (RWM) at the NEC, in Birmingham (UK), from 11 to 13 September 2012.
For further information about RWM, please go to: http://www.rwmexhibition.com/
For further information about Pellenc ST, please go to: http://www.pellencst.com/en

For further information, please contact :
Quote ref. : FTPB3760
Ms Katherine WOODS – Press Officer
UBIFRANCE Press Office in London
Tel: +44 (0) 207 024 3640
katherine.woods@ubifrance.fr