MRF Glass Clean Up

Realizing the challenges that recovered glass creates for material recovery facilities (MRFs) throughout North America, Éco Entreprises Québec (ÉEQ) began a rigorous program in 2015 to identify superior processing technologies and to develop end markets in Quebec, Canada.

The organization did an exhaustive global search to identify the best processing technology available for glass, which led them to U.K.-based Krysteline Technologies. ÉEQ then selected Machinex (Plessisville, Quebec), who decided to partner with Krysteline to integrate the technology and deliver a complete solution in North America.

Delivering Clean Glass

Recovering MRF glass and converting it into a clean, salable product has been an ongoing challenge for MRF operators. This new partnership delivers a proven, cutting-edge solution.

The process is unique in that at its heart is a proprietary implosion technology that fragmentizes the glass, minimizing the fines associated with traditional pulverizing.

The system has the ability to create a clean material in both fine and coarse fraction. The purity is tremendous with the finer material being 99% glass and the course material delivering a 95% purity.

“Nonglass residue is just not an issue for us. The system has consistently delivered clean material that’s readily marketable,” says Jean-Sébastien Daigle, president and CEO of Société VIA, which has been running the system at its Quebec City MRF since early spring 2017. “We have experienced such positive results with this glass recovery system and a variety of alternative end markets have emerged.”

Mixed MRF glass recovered in a MRF’s primary processing line is transferred to the cleaning system. It flows through magnetic separation to remove the ferrous contamination. The process continues through the proprietary Krysteline imploder.

The unique imploder technology transforms glass into fragments. With the implosion system, a calibrated-speed rotor sends a shockwave to glass bottles or pieces.

The shockwave, which travels back and forth, causes instantaneous implosion of the glass without shredding the labels or caps, making them easier to sort and extract.

This method dramatically reduces maintenance costs and uses less energy than conventional processing. An added benefit is the edges of the treated glass are rounded, not sharp.

A Production Process

As material proceeds through the system, intense separation is conducted through a zig-zag separator, a flip-flow screener and an air separator.

The ÉEQ production process is designed in a modular fashion that allows Machinex to deliver glass processing production rates beginning at 1 ton per hour and exceeding 10 tons per hour. “We are ready to serve any MRF customer with this technology, regardless of their throughput,” says Chris Hawn, executive vice president of sales and business development at Machinex.

“We participate in a detailed implementation study with our customers to configure the system based upon their volumes and the end-markets they are selling into,” Hawn adds. “Our goal is to stop seeing glass as difficult to sort, but begin seeing it as a revenue stream.”

Machinex is ready to work with any MRF operators to develop a custom solution for their glass.

ÉEQ is a private, nonprofit organization created by companies that sell containers, packaging and printed material into Quebec’s market. They collect and distribute all program contributions, and also encourage innovation and best practices to optimize the recyclable materials value chain.