Hyperspectral Imaging Sorting of Refurbishment Plasterboard Waste

Abstract

Post-consumer plasterboard waste sorting is carried out manually by operators, which is time-consuming and costly. In this work, a laboratory-scale hyperspectral imaging (HSI) system was evaluated for automatic refurbishment plasterboard waste sorting. The HSI system was trained to differentiate between plasterboard (gypsum core between two lining papers) and contaminants (e.g., wood, plastics, mortar or ceramics). Segregated plasterboard samples were crushed and sieved to obtain gypsum particles of less than 250 microns, which were characterized through X-ray fluorescence to determine their chemical purity levels. Refurbishment plasterboard waste particles 98 wt%. These findings underpin the potential implementation of an industrial-scale HSI system for plasterboard waste sorting.

Keywords

• refurbishment plasterboard waste
• gypsum recycling
• hyperspectral imaging