Problem being addressed by OMR
Recycling is a key battleground in combating climate change. By reducing the volume of materials that need to be removed from the ground and processed, significant emissions reductions can be achieved. The EU circular economy initiative, is targeting an extremely challenging municipal recycling rate of 65% over the next 15 years. Metals such as Copper, Tin, Aluminium, Gold, Silver and Zinc are infinitely recyclable and are key elements in the green energy sector where significant manufacturing will be needed in the coming years. Currently these metals cannot be economically recovered resulting in recycling rates for these crucial materials being far lower necessary to meet EU recycling targets linked to the circular economy.
OMR will create a unique combination of technologies and Machine Learning (ML) techniques to enable efficient and economic recycling of mixed metals from comingled. waste. This will enable wide scale rolling out of simple, easy recycling solutions and so increase recycling rates across the EU. It will enable the recycling of mixed metal streams in existing and already efficient recycling markets that cannot currently recycle those materials. Co-mingled collection results in a significantly higher recycling rate and yield of material owing to convenience/ease of use especially in areas with “low recycling ethic”. Further advances in sorting technology (such as that proposed here) will significantly mitigate any drawbacks of using the otherwise preferable co-mingled schemes.
Importance to Society
Non-ferrous metals addressed by the project are important for the EU’s manufacturing industries, sustainability, and economic growth. They are irreplaceable for many products in the automotive, aerospace, mechanical engineering, and construction sectors. Their unique thermal, electrical, and isolating characteristics coupled with endless recyclability and low weight make them indispensable to achieving the EU’s energy and resource efficiency goals.
Overall Objectives
The OMR project has been focussing on the following objectives:
1. Optimise the prototype design to enable full scale sorting operations
2. Assembly of the prototype OMR process on site
3. Software programs developed and outputs quality tested.
4. Identify and address any product purity, software or flow issues that arise.
5. Deliver equipment use and maintenance training for all staff.
6. Wide dissemination of project results achieved within recycling and metals industries.
7. Generate sufficient interest and user willingness to pay/adopt.
8. Achieve market penetration.
9. Reach projected market volumes and geographic target markets.
10. Achieve/exceed forecast company growth.
