Commodas - Sensor-Based Sorting of Bulk Materials

Commodas has been active in sensor-based sorting of bulk materials since 1993. The first sorting machines employed to process calcium carbonate were based on camera technology and digital image processing.

Despite the fact that these machines have already been applied in the mineral industry, it was the secondary raw materials market which had a demand for this technology and enabled a vast growth. An essential distribution of Commodas only began after the year 2000. Of around 500 sorting machines operating in various fields of business today, approximately 80 are used in the mineral and ore industry.

Mining equipment

Since 2006, Commodas has belonged to the Norwegian Tomra corporation. From 2008, Commodas will operate exclusively in the field of mining, while all other recycling activities will continue to exist under the name of TiTech (its sister company). In order to ascertain the necessary marketability, Commodas has founded its own subsidiaries in Canada and South Africa. Further branches in the most important mining areas worldwide are to follow.

Bulk materials sorting equipment

The Commodas offering is a complete range of sorting equipment covering the separation of bulk materials after primary, secondary and tertiary crushing in an overall size range of 1mm to 250mm.

We have a broad product portfolio of standard equipment for mining applications, including many significant system features. We manufacture systems with CCD line scan camera technology (known as ‘optical’ products).

We refer to other specifications as ‘primary’, ‘secondary’ and ‘tertiary’, in reference to the position of the sorting machines in analogy to the fragmentation levels in classical processing. Different machine designs cater for different size ranges, so that the physical separation of single particles exceeding 1mm in size and weighing less than 1g has a different design than a ‘Primary Sorter’ which can handle particle sizes all the way up to 250mm weighing several kilograms.

Concentrate sorter machines

‘ConcSort’ (concentrate sorter) machines work with the highest resolution both on camera level and with regard to the design of the discharge system. They were predominately applied to the processing of concentrates in diamond and gemstone recovery plants.

X-ray transmission sensors

Our product base includes machines equipped with x-ray sensors for separating mineral ores based on atomic density properties. They are available both as free-fall chute or conveyor-belt machines designed for the particle-size range -60mm +20mm.

Electromagnetic sorters

We also produce sorting systems, 'finders' with electromagnetic sensor technology based on the 'eddy-current'. These 'finders' are also supplied as chute or conveyor-belt machine variants.

Individual particle evaluation

The sorting process involves electronic image evaluation of individual particles, on a rock by rock basis at millisecond speed, before being ejected by compressed air through. The modern computing technology enables the evaluation of many thousand particles per second resulting in sorters processing feed rates of up to 250tph.

Chute vs. conveyor design

For robust mining applications, the ‘free-fall’ chute design machines are suitable for the coarse size ranges. These sorters are compact with a small footprint and can be fitted into standard containers for a modular movable plant design.

Sorters using Conveyors for a stabilized constant feed rate before the electronic sensor evaluation are mainly used for the fine size ranges when sorting diamonds or gem stones. Some applications require multi-sensors for reliable sorting algorithms. Here the conveyor type sorters are geared to integrate up to 3 sensors into one machine.