UK Battery Recycling Firm Doubles Capacity with Second Generation Sorting Robot

Derbyshire, UK based waste battery collection and recycling company, G & P Batteries, has doubled its capacity to handle non-lead acid batteries thanks to an improved robotic sorting system. According to the company, back in 2012 it was the first in Europe to install the system developed by Gothenburg, Sweden based sorting and identification systems specialist, Refind Technologies (formerly Optisort). Since then, G & P Batteries said that it has worked closely with Refind Technologies to make further improvements, resulting in a completely new model, which is said to take up a much smaller footprint yet be capable of sorting twice as many batteries as the original. According to the battery recycler it now has the capacity to sort around three million cells per week using the system, which is designed to recognise and separate the most common battery brands and chemistries and so speed up the sorting process. The company said that this will enable it to continue to manage the increase in volumes of portable waste batteries collected, helping the UK to meet its battery recycling obligations under the UK and EU targets. In 2014 the UK target is to collect 35% of batteries placed on the market for recycling, an increase of 5% on last year. Technology Refind's systems allow individual products such as batteries, cell phones or other electronics to be recognised and sorted in preparation for recycling. According to G & P, information derived from the sorted products provides opportunity for valuable market intelligence, such as collection statistics, pricing or compliance reporting. For waste portable batteries Refind said that its OBS (Optical Battery Sorter) is the world’s fastest automated battery sorter. According to the developer it is a complete turn-key solution for cylindrical and 9V batteries - which together make about 70% - 80% of the total portable battery stream. The system consists of a classification system, as well as feeding and sorting machinery, and is sadi to be capable of sorting 16 batteries per second using air jets - equivalent to 600 kg to 1 tonne of batteries per hour. The main sensor used is a camera which visually recognises each different battery based on its label. Batteries are then classified according to chemical composition (normally alkaline/zinc carbon, nickel cadmium, nickel metal-hydride, lithium and lithium-ion). According to Refind the purity rate in the sorted fractions is normally between 90% and 99.5%. “The vast majority of the volumes handled come from the most common brands and the original system streamlined our sorting process and significantly increased the volumes we could handle,” explained Michael Green, managing director of G & P Batteries. “Whilst we will always require the expertise of manual sorters, for their experience in accurately identifying the lesser known battery brands and chemistries, the systems developed by Refind Technologies continue to make a positive impact on our business efficiency,” he added. A video of the system operating can be seen below. Read More VIDEO: Firefighters Tackle Blaze at Battery Recycling Facility 50 firefighters were called to a serious fire at the G&P Batteries battery recycling facility in Walsall, UK yesterday. 'Self Learning' Sorting Machine for Battery Recycler in the Midlands G & P Batteries is investing in an automated battery sorting system from Optisort that utilises a neural network to 'self learn'. VIDEO: second generation optical sorting system for battery Recycling Optisort, which has launched its second generation of self-learning optical sorting system for end-of-life batteries.