
Discover all the news about the Lifocolor Group
Discover all the news about the Lifocolor Group
Plastic sorting systems operate in the near infrared (NIR) range. Cameras and high-resolution NIR sensors can simultaneously sort plastic fractions from two to twelve millimetres by colour and polymer type. This technology works for all types of plastics.
Polymers containing carbon black, for example, are an exception. Carbon black largely absorbs the radiation emitted by the testing device. This prevents signals from entering the detector of the NIR scanner. The result: The plastic remains unrecognised and the item is sorted incorrectly. Required are colourants that allow NIR reflection through the polymers and thus enable them to be detected.
Lifocolor offers NIR-detectable masterbatches for a variety of thermoplastics and on different polymer carriers - also on a recycled basis - which ensure NIR detectability. The plastic prod-ucts coloured with these masterbatches remain in the recycling cycle, can be sorted automatically without any problems and can visually hardly distinguished from variants coloured with carbon black.
An analysis report by the cyclos-HTP Institute demonstrates a successful identifiability and assured sortability of the Lifocolor masterbatches for polyolefins. The masterbatches can also be developed for food contact applications with the necessary approvals according to 10/2011 EC and FDA.