News

The seminar titled “Sorting, Sampling and Characterization” was organized on 10 November 2022 by Flanders Metals Valley (FMV) on the Veolia site in Gent, Belgium. FMV is a catalyst for a vibrant, climate-neutral and circular metallurgical cluster in Flanders, dynamically embedded in an international industrial ecosystem uniting stakeholders with a focus on the circularity of metals.

Our colleagues, Robert Baudinet, R&D Engineer at the GeMMe (Université de Liège), and Lara Dirx, Project Engineer at Campine were on site to provide an update to a panel of experts on the LIFE PlasPLUS project, and more specifically the PICKIT technology focused on robotic sorting. The PICKIT technology is currently being upscaled by Groupe Comet for the sorting of non-ferrous metals with an industrial plant using 18 robots taking their sorting instructions from a bench of sensors installed at the head of the processing line. Beyond the applicability of the PICKIT technology in plastic sorting, the LPP project importantly ambitions to increase circularity in two simultaneous value chains: 1) Plastics Recycling / Automotive Value Chain: Following the production by Comet Traitements SA (Comet) of high purity thermoplastics (ABS, PS & FPP) from a ternary mix and the compounding by Seri Plast SRL, Stellantis (Centro Ricerche Fiat) proceeded with industrial validation by the injection of a Fiat 500 part with 100% recycled FPP Comet compounds and 2) Flame Retardant Plastics Recycling / Antimony Value Chain: Following the separation of Flame Retardant Plastics by Comet and ULiège with XRF and PICKIT technologies, antimony-rich char was produced by pyrolysis on the Comet industrial site.