DataBeyond supplies technology for 300,000 tonnes PET bottle sorting

Iranpolymer/Baspar DataBeyond, a China-based company specialised in AI and optoelectronic sorting equipment, announced it is partnering with New Ruibang Fiber Technology, a producer of recycled hollow polyester staple fibre (PSF).

The companies are building eight PET bottle sorting lines, each with a capacity of 60,000 tonnes annually, to produce a total of 300,000 tonnes/year of recycled hollow PSF in Suqian, China. The project is expected to recycle 20 billion PET bottles annually, reducing carbon emissions by 450,000 tons.

The first production line was commissioned in March this year, with the second and third lines expected to come online this August. The project has a planned investment of CYN 5 billion (€639 million). Hollow PSF is widely used in home products, toys, and apparel.

DataBeyond has installed its optical sorters in the first stage of the project. The technology includes six AI+SPEC AI hyperspectral sorters, which can identify 256 wavelength bands and precisely remove materials such as PC, PVC, PP, PE, PO, PETG, and composites, ensuring high product purity.

The company analyses incoming bales with detection systems for material type, colour, oil bottles, wide-mouth bottles, aluminum-plastic bottle, and residues like sand, metal, water-filled bottles, paper-filled bottles, and iron wires.

The sorting process involves 11 stages and approximately 1 kilometre of equipment, including unpackers, conveyors, vibrating screens, de-labeling machines, bottle sorting, and pre-washing.

DataBeyond Technology’s equipment features continuous monitoring via the DataBeyond Cloud Brain, allowing for remote upgrades, predictive maintenance, and 24/7 real-time management.

Founded in 2018, DataBeyond has focussed on providing affordable yet sophisticated AI-based sorting equipment to the global recycling industry. It has introduced a range of high-performance optical sorters that utilise a combination of MSWDataBase and deep neural network technology, along with various types of optical sorting technology such as NIR, IR, hyperspectral, fluorescent, and X-ray.

Next to a significant market share at home, the company’s products are exported to various overseas regions, including Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Japan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Europe, and the United States.

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