Shell game: Key launches digital sorter for fruit and nuts

By Jenni Spinner

- Last updated on GMT

The Cayman BioPrint digital sorter from Key Technology is geared toward kicking defects and foreign matter from fruits and nuts.
The Cayman BioPrint digital sorter from Key Technology is geared toward kicking defects and foreign matter from fruits and nuts.

Related tags Nut

Key Technology’s Cayman BioPrint digital sorter is suited for removing foreign material and defective product from nuts, dried fruit, and other ingredients.

Cayman BioPrint is a digital sorter, produced by Key Technology, is geared toward eliminating foreign material (FM) and defective product from a range of foods, including nuts, dried fruit, and other ingredients and products.

In-plant demos

Raf Peeters, Key Technology’s technical sales support manager for optical sorting, told FoodProductionDaily food firms have responded to the in-plant demonstrations the company’s staff have performed during a series of "roadshows."

We’ve found taking the sorter directly to the processor is a very effective demonstration method​,” he said. “It takes about 15 minutes to connect air and electrical and get it up and running. Then they see it perform; the sorter’s massive success at removing defects and foreign material with very little yield loss.​”

Defects and foreign matter

The sorter has been tested with almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, macadamias, peanuts, and raisins. According to the company, the machine (equipped with intelligent software and algorithms) can hit 99.5% sorting efficiency with low false-reject rates.

The Cayman BioPrint is a chute-fed sorter that can be installed right after the cracker on a nut production line to separate kernels from shells, and remove other unwanted materials (stones, sticks, etc.). It also can be used to refine the reject streams from other sorters, in order to recover usable kernels or other product.

The company’s Chycane chute technology feeds product in a single layer to the sorter’s hyperspectral camera and ejection valves. Other features include compact footprint, stainless-steel construction, and capability to troubleshoot via web.

Related topics Processing & Packaging

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