CABLE RECOVERY AND C&D WASTE SORTING ARE NEW TARGETS FOR TITECH

Published: 28/08/2009
Category: Events

TITECH - the leading authority on sensor-based materials sorting systems - will be demonstrating the latest applications for its technology at RWM 2009.

Visitors to Stand 1020 will be introduced to the TITECH finder, a brand new dual sensor system which is set to revolutionise the recovery of cables and the valuable metals within them.

Cable materials are often lost in treatment and sorting processes, although recovering the valuable metals that they contain, such as copper, is potentially very profitable. Sorting cables has traditionally been a very difficult task because it is hard to tell what metals they contain, particularly when enclosed in an insulating sheath. Hand sorting is both labour intensive and expensive, so many conventional treatment plants have been unable to supply the required quality or quantity of recovered metals.

The TITECH finder is now available in a new configuration that radically improves and simplifies the cable recovery process. For the first time, cables can be recovered through automated means by combining a metal sensor with a near infrared (NIR) sensor. As a result of its high resolution capabilities, the NIR sensor provides much more information on the materials being processed, thereby allowing the recognition of plastic coatings. This configuration has the ability to detect the target materials in a wide range of input streams, including heavy and light fractions from automotive shredder processes; WEEE; and residual materials and metal products from swim-sink plants.

In addition to boasting the ability to recover more valuable end fractions with up to 90% purity, the TITECH finder allows precise recognition of the smallest particles down to 2 millimetres. Being able to extract the valuable metal products from the cable fraction, together with precise recognition of the smallest particles, enables the TITECH finder to deliver recovered metals of outstanding purity.

C&D Waste
A second target market to benefit from TITECH innovation is C&D Waste - the single largest category of waste in the UK, generating around 120 million tonnes of discarded materials each year1. The tonnages involved mean that manual sorting alone is simply not an option for recovering materials from this waste stream. The UK will therefore have to develop modern automated facilities that can process C&D waste arisings efficiently in order to produce the desired outputs.

Jonathan Clarke, managing director of TITECH UK explains: “C&D waste is a much greater fraction of total waste arisings than municipal waste, so the potential to recover significant amounts of valuable materials is proportionally higher. In order to exploit this resource to the full we must first have a clear idea of what we are aiming to achieve. The primary aim is to obtain a good quality inert fraction, as this material is the highest proportion in terms of content. Delivering good quality outputs involves removing as many contaminants as possible, and TITECH systems are available to achieve this.

“We are also aiming to divert as much material as possible from landfill. As part of this requirement, we can focus on the recyclable content of C&D waste, which represents a significant proportion and includes materials such as wood, film, paper, metals and dense plastics. Finally, once recyclables are removed, an RDF fraction can also be isolated using automated sorting. This fraction can typically have a calorific value in the order of 12,000kJ per kilogramme.“

To learn more about sensor-based sorting solutions from TITECH, visit Stand 1020.

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