I. Garbage segregation is a systematic engineering project from mixed treatment to precise classification
Garbage segregation refers to the process of separating waste from a mixed state into different components based on its physical characteristics (such as size, density, magnetic properties, optical properties, etc.) or chemical properties, through a series of technologies and equipment. Its core objectives are:
1. Improve resource recovery rate:
Efficiently separate recyclable materials (such as metals, plastics, paper, glass, etc.) for use as recycled raw materials.
2. Optimize processing efficiency:
Provide more homogeneous and suitable materials for subsequent incineration and biochemical treatment (composting, anaerobic digestion), improving energy output or fertilizer quality.
3. Reduce landfill pressure:
Significantly reduce the amount of waste requiring final landfill through sorting, recycling, and pretreatment.
4. Reduce environmental risks:
Separate hazardous substances to prevent them from polluting the environment or damaging subsequent process equipment.
II. Precision Separation Tools Driven by Core Sorting Equipment Technology
Modern sorting production lines consist of a variety of specialized equipment working together, each playing a key role for materials with specific properties:
1. Feeding and Pre-treatment Equipment
Plate Feeder: Provides uniform and stable material delivery to the production line, serving as the starting point of the process.
Bag Breaker/Bag Opener: Crushes garbage bags, fully exposing the material inside, creating conditions for subsequent sorting.
Trommel Screen: Performs preliminary grading based on size. Trommel screens are commonly used to separate fine particles (such as Municipal Solid Waste and soil) and large debris. Trommel screens utilize elasticity and slope to effectively separate two-dimensional materials (like film and paper) and three-dimensional materials (like containers and hard plastics) with different elasticity and frictional properties.
2. Crushing and Homogenizing Equipment
Shredder Machine (Coarse and Fine Crushing): Reduces material size, making it more uniform, facilitating subsequent sorting, and increasing bulk density.
3. Core Sorting Equipment
Magnetic Separator: Primarily used for separating ferromagnetic metals (such as iron cans and iron sheets). It is usually placed after the crushing process to expose the metal fully.
Eddy Current Separator: Used for sorting non-ferrous metals (such as aluminum and copper). It utilizes an alternating magnetic field to induce eddy currents in non-ferrous metals, generating repulsive forces to separate them from non-metallic materials.
Air Classifier/Air Separator: Utilizes the differences in material density and aerodynamic properties to separate lightweight materials (such as films, paper, and plastics) from heavy materials through controlled airflow.
Optical Sorting Machine (Near-Infrared/NIR, Visible Light/VIS): This is currently the core technology for high-precision sorting. It utilizes the differences in the reflectivity of different materials to the near-infrared spectrum, using a high-speed camera for scanning and spectral analysis, and a precise jet valve to blow the target material (such as different types of plastics like PET, HDPE, and PP) away from the main material stream. Visible light sorting can be based on color.
Ballistic Sorting Machine: Effectively separates materials by utilizing the different trajectories of their weight, shape, and elasticity during the falling process.
AI Intelligent Robot Sorting: Combines deep learning with a high-speed robotic arm, using a vision system to identify materials and grasp or push specific items. Particularly suitable for handling complex, flexible, or large waste, it is a powerful supplement to automated sorting.
4. Conveying and Storage Equipment
Plate Feeder: The material conveyor link connecting various process stages.
Storage Bins/Battery Machines: Used to temporarily store various sorted materials and compact and package them for easy transportation and sale.
III. garbage segregation Process
1. Feeding and Pre-treatment:
After weighing, mixed waste is fed into a bag opener by a feeder, and then enters a trommel screen for preliminary screening. Fine-grained organic matter (<50-80mm) can be screened out for composting or anaerobic digestion; the remaining material enters the main sorting line.
2. Magnetic Metal Recovery:
After pretreatment, the material passes through a magnetic separator, where ferrous metals are separated and recovered first.
3. Screening and Size Grading:
The material may enter a bouncing screen to separate two-dimensional films/paper from three-dimensional rigid materials (containers, bottles, etc.).
4. Lightweight Material Separation and Heavy Material Extraction:
An air separator separates lightweight films, paper, etc., from heavy materials (plastic bottles, cans, other recyclables, and residues). The heavy material stream is the focus of subsequent fine sorting.
5. Fine Sorting and AI Assistance:
The heavy material stream passes through an eddy current separator to extract non-ferrous metals (mainly aluminum).
It then enters the core optical sorting section. Multiple NIR separators are typically used to sequentially sort specific types of plastics (such as PET bottles, HDPE bottles, and mixed hard plastics).
In certain complex stages (such as picking out large interfering objects or specific irregularities from a conveyor belt), AI sorting robots can play a crucial role.
6. Final Processing and Packaging
The sorted clean materials (metals, various types of plastics, paper, etc.) are transported to storage silos, where they are compressed into bundles by a baler and sold as recycled raw materials. Unrecyclable residues are sent to incineration plants or landfills.
Garbage segregation is an indispensable “pre-processor” and “resource supply station” in the modern circular economy. Its technological level directly determines the purity, efficiency, and economic benefits of resource recycling. Guoxin Machinery is committed to providing modular, intelligent, and highly adaptable sorting equipment and end-to-end solutions through continuous innovation, helping customers build a stable, efficient, and sustainable waste resource utilization system, jointly promoting green development, and ensuring that every resource is used to its fullest potential.