Turkish quartz miner Mikroman Maden said using a new version of a laser developed by German-headquartered laser sorting technology developer Tomra has helped it target new industries.

After using Tomra's PRO Secondary COLOR and LASER sorters with bigger particle sizes at its Kula plant, Mikroman asked Tomra for a solution to process the finer materials.

Mikroman was processing particles sizes down to 15mm with a PRO Tertiary COLOR, and Tomra installed 3 additional PRO Tertiary COLOR sorters for finer particles: two for sorting particle sizes from 2-4mm and one for sizes from 4-10mm to remove colored impurities from the material, which is then processed further in a Micronized plant on the premises.

With these sorters, Mikroman was able to diversify its product to provide the different qualities required by the various sectors it serves with smaller particle sizes.

The company also wanted the high purity levels achieved with laser technology in grain sizes below 20mm. However, "at the time, the PRO Tertiary was only available with COLOR technology, so we looked into a new product development implementing the Tomra multi-channel LASER technology in the PRO Tertiary platform," explains Ines Hartwig, Director Product Management at Tomra Mining. "With this solution, also white non-quartz impurities like shist, feldspar, shale and calcite can be detected and sorted out to achieve a pure white, high-grade quartz product."

Tomra developed and tested extensively the new PRO Tertiary LASER sorter in close collaboration with Mikroman, as Serhat Saran remarks: "We worked as if Tomra's Research and Development department was our own."

Ines Hartwig adds: "As Mikroman had already implemented the LASER technology for bigger grain sizes and had experienced its advantages compared to COLOR sorters, it was a perfect fit to collaborate, design and field test this new product. They provided us with the small particle references of product and waste that they expected to sort, and our Engineering team developed the new machine with the support of Markus Dehler, Manager of the Tomra Mining Test Center."

The PRO Tertiary LASER sorter uses the same multi-channel LASER technology as the PRO Secondary platform, but is specialized in detecting and sorting smaller sized material, from 6-32mm. The distance between detection and ejection is minimized and the number of ejectors increased to result in a very precise, effective and efficient sorting and highest product quality and yield.

The development was completed in a short timeframe and a new PRO Tertiary LASER sorter was installed at the Kula plant to process grain sizes 5-15 mm and 15-35mm. The two PRO Tertiary COLOR and LASER sorters combined are consistently removing 98% of impurities in small sizes from 5-35mm, while delivering savings in water, fuel and electricity consumption in the downstream process.

With these investments, Mikroman said it has expanded its capacity and product portfolio to serve a wide range of industries - composite stone, glass, electronics, metallurgy, paint and ceramics among others - and exports to 15 countries including the United States, Spain, Italy and Israel.

"Our collaboration with Tomra and its LASER and COLOR sensor-based sorting technologies has greatly improved our production quality and efficiency," says Serhat Saran, Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Manager of Mikroman. The company saw the potential to expand its operation and enter new markets with these solutions: "Using LASER and COLOR sorting systems allowed us to serve a variety of sectors by changing the quality and chemistry of the micronized and granulated products."