Machinex system in Québec targets organics diversion

Recycling equipment and technology provider Machinex Industries Inc. says it has delivered an organic material recovery (OMRC) system to the government of Québec City, Québec.

Machinex, based in Plessisville, Québec, refers to the deployed OMRC system as “a technological first within cocollection organics recovery systems in North America.” According to the company, “This facility eases the organic waste management for the residents of Québec City while contributing to a more sustainable solution.”

The Canadian company, which has a sizable presence in the single-stream recycling systems sector, says its product design team “elaborated [on] and developed a new system integrating the most advanced optical sorting technology for a specific use in organic waste management.”

The new system offers a processing capacity of 250,000 tons per year of color-coded bagged municipal solid waste (MSW) and can sort up to 86,600 tons per year of organic waste, Machinex says.

“At the center of this system are three Mach Hyspec optical sorters that the company says can undertake up to 3,000 ejections per minute.

“Here at Machinex, we are proud to contribute to this achievement", says Jonathan Ménard, a vice president with the equipment company. “This system is a first in North America. It’s a new way to sort organic materials. In recent years, we have successfully tested our methods in waste treatment across Europe and we bring this innovative technological approach, which is more efficient and durable, to Québec.”

The Mach Hyspec includes what Machinex calls a high-speed, short-wave infrared (SWIR) hyperspectral detection system “that allows for the accurate identification and sorting of purple bags containing organic waste.”

Once detected, the bags are propelled onto another conveyor through compressed air ejection. This newly developed use of an optical sorter needed important equipment adjustments to transition from sorting recyclable materials to organic materials, according to Machinex.

Machinex Group CEO Pierre Paré credits the company’s “highly qualified experts” as delivering on the necessary adjustments.

“Our research and development team, which is behind the versatile Mach Hyspec optical sorter, transformed this challenge in an incredible achievement, thereby creating a new application for the functional and highly performant technology,” Paré says. “We’re truly proud of this achievement and extremely proud of the people who have worked toward this success."

This spring, during the inauguration of its Organic Material Biomethanization Center, which includes the OMRC system, the city of Québec announced that the recovered products resulting from biomethanization – renewable natural gas (RNG) and digestates – are now available on the market.

“About a month ago, we inaugurated the Biomethanization Center of the Greater Québec City Area, a state-of-the-art infrastructure of significant scale, of which we are immensely proud at Québec City,” said Marie-Josée Asselin of the city’s government at the ceremony where the announcement was made.

“Optical sorting and the ability to detect purple bags in the co-collection of food waste play a crucial role in the chain of sorting residual materials, enabling the redirection of organic residues to the biomethanization center,” Asselin added.