All materials detectable using NIR are reliably recognized as the UniSort Black operates with STEINERT’s in-house HSI camera technology. The UniSort Black can additionally detect dark or even black objects due to its special arrangement and adapted classification system. The latter otherwise remain invisible to standard NIR sorters.
The main field of application for this technology therefore lies in the accumulation of dark objects. As an additional post-removal stage in a post-consumer packages system, for example, the UniSort Black can positively sort all previously undetected dark objects and convert them into a product. This also applies to the remaining losses from upstream sorting technology.
From an annual perspective, the input into a post-consumer packages system consists on average of around 3% black packaging, which is not separated out by conventional NIR separators. Examples of this packaging are primarily cosmetic products for men, dark fabric detergents or PP plant pots. Consequently, this packaging, generally made of PP or PE, passes through the entire processing and inevitably ends up in the plant's sorting residues. The PP and PE plastics that are so important for the sorting system's overall extraction and related plastic ratio cannot be detected and require expensive disposal.
A further application for the UniSort Black results from the processing of material flows that normally must be positively sorted to prevent soiling by black objects. The sorting of ASR (automotive shredder residue) is just one example of this. The UniSort Black permits both the sorting of visible PVC and the separation of all black objects in the substitute fuel sector, so as also to reliably remove the dark PVC proportion from the premium fuel.
In addition to the classical applications in the packaging area and in the substitute fuel, the UniSort Black can also be used with green waste. Here impurities like hard plastics, glass or even films can be positively removed to increase the purity of the green waste or structural material.
