Working group "Digital Waste Technology"

The working group "Digital Waste Technology" is concerned with research into sensor-based sorting and material flow analysis and their efficient use in waste management for the classification and separation of waste material as well as process digitalization in the sense of an efficient circular economy.

Sensor-based sorting enables non-contact and imaging detection of optical and spectral solid properties as the basis for application-specific object classification and separation. Sensor-based sorters are complex mechatronic systems. The development and use of sensor-based sorting therefore requires interdisciplinary knowledge, from the fields of solid-state spectroscopy, sensor technology, mechanical engineering, control engineering, image data processing and process engineering.

Sensor-based sorting: function group model

Sensor-based sorters already perform a variety of functions in waste processing.  They will also play a key role in solving new challenges associated with increased value-based recycling and digitalization in waste processing.

The working group "Digital Waste Technology" and the chair have dedicated themselves to this research and teaching task.

The Chair of Waste Processing Technology and Waste Management (AVAW) has extensive analytical equipment for raw material and sample analysis and has a compact sensor-based test system available for application and contract research projects. It is designed as a two-way chute machine with pneumatic separating device. A particle size range from 3 to 200 mm can be processed. The test system is equipped with three industrial sensors (NIR spectral imaging sensor, high-resolution RBG line sensor with incident/transmitted light mode and induction sensor).

Sensor-based chute sorter at the AVAW

This enables the sorting of a wide range of secondary raw materials, such as waste glass, paper and cardboard, plastic flakes, light packaging, electronic scrap, construction waste, compost and waste wood. By means of sensor fusion, the test system offers the possibility to combine flexibly several sensors in order to solve even very complex or new research tasks.

In addition, a large-scale pilot plant with integrated belt sorter will be available from May 2022 in the Institute's own "Digital Waste Research Lab" in St. Michael. This is equipped with extended multi-sensor technology and can be operated in combination with other processing units. In particular, this enables cycle simulation and material flow analyses in connection with research focuses in the field of process digitization.

Ongoing projects of the WG

• Implementation of a quality-optimized cycle for PO films from the increased quantity light fraction collection
  Short title: Flex4Loop // Project start: 2023
  
  
• Mechanical recycling of plastics: From waste plastics to high-quality, specification-compliant recyclates
  Short title: circPlast-mr // Project start: 2022
  
  
• Circulation-oriented fundamentals for the sensor-supported ejection of plastics for the production of quality compost
  Short title: PlasticFreeCompost // Project start: 2022
  
  
• Circular plastics network for training
  Short title: C-PlANeT // Project start: 2020
  
  
• Development and testing of a sensor-based material flow monitoring system
  Short title: EsKorte // Project start: 2020
  
  
• Improving the quality of recycled polymer waste
  Short title: PCCL-K1 // Project start: 2019

Other contract research projects (commissioned directly by companies, so we cannot list them here)

Experimental sensor-based sorting setup

Completed projects of the WG (in the laste 2 years)

• Identification of multilayer films in plastic sorting to increase the recycling of packaging film waste
  Short title: Multilayer-Detection // Project period: 2021 - 2023
  
  
• Throughput Rate
  Project period: 2020 - 2021
  
  
• Littering in Leoben
  Short title: LeoLitt // Project period: 2021
  
  
• Basics for the automatic detection and the sensor-based sorting of plastics in biogenic materials
  Short title: DeSort // Project period: 2018 - 2021
  
  
• Development of a method to quantify the loss of LDPE in the NIR-sorting process of Ecoplast
  Short title: NirLoss // Project period: 2020 
  
  
• Sorting of coloured polyolefine flakes
  Short title: ColourSort // Project period: 2020

Other contract research projects (commissioned directly by companies, so we cannot list them here)

Group members of the WG

Leader of the WG

Dr. Alexia Tischberger-AldrianEnvironmental Analysis

Assistants

Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Josef Adam, MEng
Biogenic Waste, Material Flow Analyses and Waste Management General

Dipl.-Ing. Dr.mont. Gerald Koinig
Sensor-Based Sorting

Nikolai Kuhn, M.Sc.
Recycling Technology and Sensor-Based Sorting

MEng Namrata Mhaddolkar
Bioplastic Waste Management (Collection and Sorting)

Student employees

• Jessica Brantner
• Elena Dvorak
• Abdullah Gürel
• Andreas Klöckl
• Verena Schmid
• Nicole Weber

With the following form you can directly contact the leader of the working group Miss Dr. Alexia Tischberger-Aldrian.