On 7 August, the IART team from TUBAF visited STEINERT Unisort GmbH in Zittau for the Gabriela project to sort the plastic fraction from battery housings using innovative technology.

After upstream eddy current and magnetic separation, in which metals were reliably removed, state-of-the-art technology was used at Steinert: the UniSort BlackEye system, which was specially developed for the detection and sorting of dark plastics such as PP and PAGF (PA with glass fibre content), as they are almost invisible to conventional optical sorting technology. The system uses a MIR camera (mid-infrared) with HSI technology (Hyper Spectral Imaging) for this purpose.

With impressive results: Up to 99% pure PAGF fraction could be achieved - a milestone for the circular economy and the recycling of high-quality plastic components.

The next step on this path is now the fine separation of different glass fibre fractions within the PAGF fraction. In this way, customised and high-quality recycling products can be obtained.

Many thanks to Bruno Lommatzsch and Thomas Probst for the organisation and the inspiring exchange on site. The results impressively demonstrate how technical progress enables innovations in plastics recycling and makes the vision of a sustainable circular economy a reality.