A new sensor-based sorting system related to complex image analysis has been developed at Comex AS in Norway. It makes it possible to separate or identify different mineral particles regarding their colour, shape, texture, size, density and indirectly their composition. The sorting system has successfully been tested and applied for sorting minerals providing high separation efficiency in the range of 95-99.9%. The main advantage of this system is connected with its universality where many material parameters are analysed in the same processing unit by a single passage.
Current limitations
Application of sensor-based sorting systems, without any doubt, brings a lot of possible advantages in many mineral operations. In recent years there were a number of publications covering this topic, however, very little information was given about limitations related to practical implementations of such technologies.
Sensor-based sorting must always be tailored for particular applications. Very few of the systems available...