Symposium to cover sensor-based sorting

Archiv – A second symposium entitled ’Sensor-based sorting’ will be held in Aachen, Germany, from March 28 to 30 next year.A second symposium entitled ’Sensor-based sorting’ will be held in Aachen, Germany, from March 28 to 30 next year.
The first of these symposia was held in 2004 and attracted 140 participants, mainly from Germany. Its success has inspired the Department of Materials Processing, RWTH Aachen University, the Technical University of Delft and the German Society of Mining, Metallurgy, Raw Materials and Environmental Technology (GDMB) to organise an international congress to cover sensor-based sorting. The event will feature simultaneous translation in English and German.
Sensor-based sorting developed during the 1950s and 1960s with applications in the food, mineral and other processing sectors; at that time, Sortex and Ore Sorters were the main equipment producers. Over the years, sensors became more sensitive and higher resolutions were made available, while generic image processing software became more sophisticated and data processing speeds increased. These developments created new opportunities for research groups and equipment manufacturers to improve sensor-based sorting. Nowadays, sensing and waste processing methods represent an independent field of activity with specialised process technologies devised to handle the specific character of waste.
With sensor developments and fast data processing, numerous opportunities present themselves – notably in the field of dry separation techniques which utilise new options for sorting materials. Adaptation of analytical methods such as near infra-red detection or intelligent image recognition and evaluation have led to remarkable innovations in automatic sorting machines. Today, many sensor-based devices are available in the sphere of primary and secondary raw materials, delivering more cost-efficient operation and higher throughputs in comparison to traditional processing techniques. As the application ranges of these sorting machines continue to expand, the relevance of sensor-based sorting techniques is increasing in all areas of processing.
Symposium presentations will deal with sorting operations which detect diverse characteristics of the feed material through use of intelligent sensor technology followed by selective discharge of positive identified particles. There will be discussion of the progress made in the sorting of, for example, minerals, scrap metal, plastics, recovered paper, refuse-derived fuel, packaging waste, glass cullet and agricultural products. The aim of the symposium – which will also feature poster presentations, an exhibition and company visits – is to enhance the dialogue between plant operators, producers and developers.