Separation Of Light Weight Materials With The Double Trommel Low-Pressure Separator

In terms of a sustainable waste management, high recycling rates and purities of the different collected waste components are very important. Especially the recycling of used packaging materials with valuable components like plastics, ferrous and non-ferrous metals and liquid cartons (light weight packaging) requires a complex technology. In plants to recycle those light weight packaging materials films cause problems and often manual sorting is necessary to remove them. The Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences together with the company Schulz & Berger from Altenburg tries to replace manual sorting with fully automated technologies. The objective is a technology that can enable a high recovery of recyclable film and satisfy the maximum purity requirements for the film fraction. For that purpose, a new machine called Low-pressure Separator was developed. The test materials used consist of separately collected recyclables from the yellow recycling bins or bags in Germany?s Dual System (Duales System Deutschland ? DSD), the recyclable waste collection system. First tests show that high purities of the film-fraction, for example the required 92% or higher, can be realized. Next to the film-purity, furthermore the mass yield and the recyclable yield are discussed because they play an important role to evaluate the efficiency of the recycling process. Further activities to improve and establish the developed technology are mentioned.