Pellenc adds more AI functions for sorting

Mistral+ and Mistral+ Connect Pellenc’s multimaterial sorting machines come equipped with near-infrared spectrometer technologies and can be outfitted with vision systems. In addition, the Mistral+ Connect features the company’s Aerolight ejection hood for sorting film.

What’s new? Updates incorporating Pellenc’s CNS Brain and AISort artificial intelligence (AI)-based technologies, which have been trained with millions of images in order to be able to identify the unique characteristics of objects, such as shape, size or other visual differences. Available since 2024 for HDPE sorting, the CNS Brain now works with PET sleeve separation. It uses AI to recognize transparent PET bottles covered with a sleeve or a large label, which are difficult to recognize using near-infrared and visible-light-spectrum vision (NIR/VIS) alone. Meanwhile, the AISort has been available since late 2024 to sort food and non-food packaging made from PET, PP and PE, in combination with additional cameras.

Benefits Better sorting. By combining NIR/VIS technologies and deep learning technologies, optical sorters gain analysis speed and can then provide a solution for more complex sorting tasks. For example, the CNS Brain detects more than 85 percent of sleeved bottles, and Pellenc expects to boost those results to 90 percent soon. With it, recyclers have reduced the rate of improperly sorted clear PET bottles from 7 percent to less than 2 percent.

Pellenc Selective Technologies, 803-396-3990, www.pellencst.com