Automated polymer identification on laboratory samples

[01Mercy]

Hi all,

I'm in search of a piece of equipment which is able to identify different polymers between a bulk of PET flakes.
I've been told such equipment exists but I don't know how and what and where to look.

If possible, the idea is to have a sample of lets say 50g and spread is out on a surface, put the equipment above the sample and read out the amounts of different polymers are in the sample, much like an online LAB color measuring divice.

Can anyone help me on this one. Any info you've got on automated measuring of different polymers in a one type polymer bulk, on lab scale is welcome.

Regards!

 

[patprimmer]

I have seen PET bottle recycling lines where the bottles are hand sorted initially then sorted by floatation to separate the olefins which float while other polymers including PET sink, then running under an infa red light and measuring transmission. If IR in a very specific wavelength is not transmitted, a well timed air blast removes all the chip from that area. It was quite a sophisticated system and ran at very high speed.

I don't know who makes it or where to buy it. I suspect some PET raw materials manufacturers like Eastman Kodak might be able to point you to a supplier of such equipment.

Otherwise, search by terms like IR identification of PVC or PET or equipment for sorting plastic resins by spectophotometry or a series of searches around that sort of terminology.

Regards
Pat
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[CoryPad]

There is a lot of work in this area for recycling automobile shredder residue. Here is one system:

http://auxiliaryequipment.process-control.com/Asset/ASRBrochure.pdf

 

[01Mercy]

Pat & Pad,

Thank you for your posts. We have these systems in our factory however I want to know of small scale equipment specific for in a laboratory. At this moment we are inspecting the samples visually and we want to automate that. We want the QC inspection time down to a minimum and are looking for ways to automate the identification of other polymers in lab scale samples.
I have already checked the suppliers of industrial machines but they have these technologisch only on large scale.

Thanks

 

[patprimmer]

An IR spectrophotometer, but I doubt it can be automated.

Regards
Pat
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[01Mercy]

Hi Pat,
I know of IR spectrophotometers but they can only handle a small quantity, like the size of a KBr tablet.
I have talked with a supplier of Perkin Elmer during my internship at DOW benelux and they had an FTIR device that could show different color scales on a sample and each color represented a different kind of substance.
This would be a good technique if I could use it on a surface of flakes of 10x10cm.
If you know of a company who might have devices that are capable of measuring with IR on approx. that surface size I would like to hear of it.

Regards

 

[patprimmer]

Sorry. I don't.

Regards
Pat
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