Assessment of Performance and Challenges in Use of Commercial Automated Sorting Technology for Plastic Waste
Assessment of Performance and Challenges in Use of Commercial Automated Sorting Technology for Plastic Waste
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DOI：
10.3390/recycling7020011
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发表时间：
2022-04-01
期刊：
影响因子：
4.3
通讯作者：
Alexandridis, Paschalis
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Lubongo, Cesar;Alexandridis, Paschalis
回收塑料是迈向循环经济的重要一步。获得高质量的再生塑料需要在再加工之前按类型，颜色和尺寸分离塑料废物。自动化技术是在中到大批量工厂中分拣塑料物品的关键。本文分析了目前用于分拣塑料的商业设备的现状以及材料回收设施（MRF）在分拣消费后塑料方面所面临的挑战。利用从制造商网站、新闻稿和期刊文章中获得的公开信息，确定了用于分类塑料可回收物的设备。目前可用的自动分拣设备和基于人工智能（AI）的分拣机在功能、效率、可以分拣的塑料类型、吞吐量和准确性方面进行了评估。所汇编的信息反映了自类似报告发表以来十年中取得的进展。对美国的MRF、回收商和经纪人进行的一项调查确定了塑料的分类方法、分类效率以及MRF在分类塑料可回收物方面的现行做法和遇到的挑战。商业分拣设备可以解决MRF面临的一些挑战。然而，薄膜、多层、共混或混合材料塑料的分选是有问题的，因为设备通常被设计为分选单组分材料。因此，认为有必要进行改进和/或提出新的解决办法。
Recycling plastic is an important step towards a circular economy. Attaining high-quality recycled plastics requires the separation of plastic waste by type, color, and size prior to reprocessing. Automated technology is key for sorting plastic objects in medium- to high-volume plants. The current state of the art of commercial equipment for sorting plastic as well as challenges faced by Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) to sort post-consumer plastics are analyzed here. Equipment for sorting plastic recyclables were identified using publicly available information obtained from manufacturers' websites, press releases, and journal articles. Currently available automated sorting equipment and artificial intelligence (AI)-based sorters are evaluated regarding their functionality, efficiency, types of plastics they can sort, throughput, and accuracy. The information compiled captures the progress made during the ten years since similar reports were published. A survey of MRFs, reclaimers, and brokers in the United States identified methods of sorting used for plastic, sorting efficiency, and current practices and challenges encountered at MRFs in sorting plastic recyclables. The commercial sorting equipment can address some of the challenges that MRFs face. However, sorting of film, multilayered, blended, or mixed-material plastics is problematic, as the equipment is typically designed to sort single-component materials. Accordingly, improvements and/or new solutions are considered necessary.