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Sorting technology solves efficiency problem of walnut producers

Source:Ringier Food Release Date:2016-01-26 466
Food & Beverage
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The SORTEX E BioVision does the job of two machines – sorting for defects and foreign materials simultaneously

NUT producers have seen the efficiency of the SORTEX E BioVision™, a single piece of equipment that does the job of two conventional machines: sort for defects as well as foreign material simultaneously. This ability enables one set up and unprecedented removal of hazardous, rotten or diseased nuts.

Launched by The Bühler Group in 2015, the sorter been installed within various companies, including Moldovan specialist nut grower and processor Monicol, and Californian walnut processor Andersen Nut Co.

Monicol, which exports to 17 countries including Eastern and Western Europe and the United States, both harvests its own walnut kernels and acts as a pre-processor by cracking and pre-cleaning walnuts before they are sold on to processors and manufacturers. It approached Bühler for a solution that could remove not only hazardous material, mainly shell, but also foreign material such as sticks and stones, as well as dark color defects – the most common defect in walnuts.

Moldova is one of the top 10 walnut producers globally and the third largest supplier of shelled walnuts to the European Union1, due to its rich soil and temperate climate of warm summers and mild winters. In 2015/2016 Moldova’s production is expected to hit 40,000 metric tonnes of in-shell walnuts2.

At Monicol, the installation followed extensive trials to test the SORTEX E BioVision’s efficacy and accuracy.

“The trials were conducted on product with input contamination ranging from 10 percent to 34 percent, achieving accept quality of 99 percent,” Dumitru Vicol, CEO of Monicol said. “On trials of input contamination at 15 percent, the accept quality rose to 99.9 percent, with no shell found per 1kg. A typical customer requirement allows for one piece of shell in every 10kg, so we were very happy with these results. The SORTEX E BioVision™ is helping our business to grow by achieving greater trust in our products and therefore customer satisfaction. We’re expecting it to play a major part in the on-going efficiency and profitability of our business in the coming months and years.”

Andersen Nut Co.

Before Andersen Nut Co. installed the SORTEX E BioVision, it had issues with machines that operated at low capacity and lengthy processing times that led to high production costs. It was sorting walnuts to remove shell, discolored nuts and rancid products, which often meant between six and eight passes through equipment before product could be passed to the hand-picking tables.

Bühler established laboratory demonstrations followed by on-site demonstrations which showed how the SORTEX E BioVision™ could sort with just a couple of passes rather than several.

Andersen Nut Co.’s Dan Andersen, said, “The SORTEX E BioVision™ proved to achieve the same levels of quality and better yields in just two to four passes, which achieved higher volumes. It was also able to target all defects effectively. What’s more, production volume increased because the machine was able to handle higher capacity.”

The SORTEX E BioVision™ is also capable of removing hazardous material up to 50 percent smaller than previously possible and it does so in a single sort for many varieties of nuts – including walnuts, almonds, pecans, pistachios and hazelnuts. This solution, which is unique to Bühler, not only minimizes losses of good nuts, it also ensures greater accuracy in detecting foreign material while reducing processing time.

The machine employs Bühler’s proprietary high definition BioVision™ detection technology. It analyses the spectral and spatial difference between walnut meat and shell to distinguish subtle differences between a vast range of shell varieties and walnut meat. It is able to detect both textured and smooth shells of varying sizes. Without this technology, a much higher volume of the nut meat may be lost due to false rejections. BioVision™ technology achieves this with a very simple machine set up.

Faisal Baig, Global Product Manager for Optical Sorting at Bühler, explains that conventional sorters may not be as effective when sorting walnuts especially if the product batch includes shell, septa and dark kernels. The optical configuration in the BioVision™, he said enables the sorter to handle different varieties and grades of walnuts – in-shell and shelled, including sizes ranging from halves to double-diced and colors ranging from extra light to amber.

[1] http://nutfruitcongress.org/wp-content/themes/wnfcongress/download/POSTCONGRES14%20.pdf

[2] http://nutfruitcongress.org/wp-content/themes/wnfcongress/download/POSTCONGRES14%20.pdf

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