Air-based Technology Facilitates Plastics Recovery

According to England-based company Impact Air Systems, utilizing air-based technology to conduct waste sorting tasks is in huge demand due to its cost-effective and efficient technique.

This is why this kind of technique is being selected for use in many recycling facilities around the world, saving thousands of tons of recyclable plastics, and other materials, ending in landfill, Impact Air Systems highlights one significant advantage of air-based systems.

As stated, such material recovery solutions from industry experts “are leading the way with various options to suit a wide range of plastic applications. The Impact Film Vacuum System and Airlift solution removes plastic bags and films from the waste stream and bales them with a screw compactor system. Zigzag separation provides an efficient and effective solution to remove dust, debris, and fibers from rigid WEEE plastic, granules, and flakes to provide a more valuable product for recycling. Impact’s Pneumatic Conveying System seamlessly transports plastic bottles and containers through the facility via a ductwork system to external storage containers or bunkers.”

The company points to examples, which show the variation of plastic materials that can be recovered along with the alternate use of air-based technology to achieve resource recovery.

• Increased material value: Enva Resource Recovery, in Bourne, Lincolnshire, operates a plastic recycling system to recycle household rigid plastic material and plastic car components. This is needed to further improve the quality of the HDPE and PP granules by removing the lightweight fibers and debris. The facility consists of a shredder, metal removal process, granulator, and finally a plastic grade segregation process. The finished product is then collected into two-ton storage sacks for resale.

Impact Air Systems installed a Zigzag separation system to improve the quality of the final product by removing the light fibers and debris from the final material stream to boost its resale value. The Impact Zigzag Air Classifier (ZAC), Air Drum Separator and Pneumatic Transfer system were also installed to recover the plastics from the WEEE material to divert it from landfill and increase its resale value.

• Removing plastic film and bags: Impact worked with CP Manufacturing and MSS Optical, USA on a process improvement project in Calgary, Canada providing a solution to remove plastic film and bags from the material stream. “As quality demands are heightened, our client selected optical separation quality control along with the Impact Plastic Film Airlift solution, to ensure higher quality waste streams are achieved,” reported the British firm, which works with many sectors around the world, delivering trim extraction and waste separation using air technology solutions.

“Air technology at its best”
According to the provider of air systems, Impact’s Plastic Film Airlift is an innovative solution designed to work in conjunction with optical sorters to capture film that has been rejected from the material stream by the optical sorter air injection. “Flexible plastics captured by the Airlift are discharged from the conveying air stream via the rotary separator and deposited into the bunker below, removing the contaminant material at high volume, enabling it to be recycled.”

As underlined, the company’s solutions would ensure higher quality material streams along with increased revenue from recovered recyclable materials. “They also greatly assist the operator in achieving zero waste targets while encouraging the circularity of plastics aiding the transition towards a circular economy.”

www.impactairsystems.com

(Published in GLOBAL RECYCLING Magazine 3/2022, Page 58, Photo: Impact Air Systems Ltd)