STORY-TRÅD·industri

AI identifies, air ejects, and MRFs run with less manual QC

Existing material recovery facilities (MRFs) are modernizing and increasingly turning to automation, and new MRFs are being designed around it from the start. In both cases, the first targets are the manual positions at each end of the process: pre-sort and quality control (QC). Automating pre-sort Pre-sort is the most demanding and least predictable manual work in the plant. Sorters face the full inbound stream, including bulky items, film, hoses, and unsafe objects like sharps. CP Group developed the CP Auger Screen to eliminate the traditional pre-sort. Its cantilevered steel augers fractionate material before manual sorting and release film and hoses off the end instead of wrapping. As a primary screen, it diverts 60 percent or more of inbound material away from manual sorting while reducing the number of human sorters at the front end of the plant. It also improves efficiency in downstream sorting units, whether it's a mechanical screen, an AI unit, or an NIR machine. Auger screens are a cornerstone of plant sorting performance. Sized, more uniform fractions reach downstream units at a lower burden depth, with fewer overlapping objects. The QC automation that follows depends on that presentation.