Habasit ENB-15EHBT specific for the recycling industry

Reliable optical waste sorting
under harsh conditions:

In this application, the waste is spread on a running
belt and then optically sorted using NIR (Near
InfraRed) technology. The customer used a rubber
belt in the past and faced difficulties with dirt
accumulation on the belt which reduced the sorting
efficiency and led to frequent downtimes.
To improve the application efficiency, a robust
belt with excellent resistance to cutting and other
mechanical damages was needed. Since the sorting
happens at high speed (2–4 m/s), miss-tracking
issues needed to be avoided. The application
requires on-site joining.
The solution was ENB-15EHBT, a thick (> 4 mm)
TPU belt that has excellent resistance to cutting
and mechanical damages. Its TPU compounds in
matt finish delay the dirt build-up and prevent light
reflections, which is an absolute requirement in
optical sorters. The Thermofix joining is the ideal
method for such applications since it needs to
withstand rough conditions under a long lifetime
of two to five years.
Even though the initial costs for this solution were
higher, when considering the increased belt lifetime
of two to five years, the OEM was able to reduce
the total costs of ownership over the entire period.
The OEM's cost reductions could be achieved
through on-site joinings, fewer breakdowns,
improved sorting efficiency, and lower energy
consumption.