Tomra Sorting Recycling will showcase its sensor-based sorting technologies at Aluminium 2018, the world trade fair and conference, at Messe Düsseldorf, Germany, from 9th to 11th October. Tomra’s exhibition stand will spotlight the company’s X-Tract machine, which separates valuable materials from metal waste, and its state-of-the-art LIBS technology, which accurately sorts and separates different aluminium wrought alloys.
Aluminium 2018 is expected to attract more than 27,000 visitors from 100 countries and will share latest insights into everything from aluminium production to processing, finished goods and recycling. Tomra can be found on Hall 11, stand no. 11|54. The company’s technical experts will be available during all three days of the event to answer visitors’ questions.
Frank van de Winkel, Tomra Sorting Business Development Manager Metals, said: “High levels of aluminium production plus the high accuracy of modern alloy-sorting techniques make it more and more worthwhile to unlock the value from secondary materials that would otherwise be lost. What’s more, re-using scrap metal is an environmentally-friendly practice which demonstrates the industry’s commitment to sustainability. For these reasons we’re looking forward to discussing our technologies at Aluminium 2018 with refiners and remelters.”
According to the company Tomra’s X-Tract separates heavy metals from aluminium alloys with such high precision – irrespective of the materials’ size, moisture, or surface pollution level – that it achieves aluminium purities of 98-99%, even from a varied mix and with small grain sizes. This technology employs an electric X-ray tube so that broad-band radiation can penetrate the material to provide spectral absorption information. This data is then measured with a highly sensitive X-ray camera to identify the atomic density of the material, regardless of its thickness. Material is sorted into high- and low-density fractions, with Tomra’s Duoline sensor technology using two independent sensor lines with different spectral sensitivities, the company says.
Tomra’s LIBS-based sensor sorting technology extends the options for the use of scrap- and secondary-aluminium. By employing a dynamic laser which can monitor the entire width of the belt, this has the unique advantage of eliminating the complex and costly need to separate materials into single lanes. This enables the sorting and separation of different aluminium wrought alloys with unprecedentedly high levels of efficiency, achieving sorting accuracies of 99% purity (or greater) with high throughputs of three to seven tons per hour.
