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Processing Walnut Quality Success with New Digital Sorters Poindexter Nut Company is one of the five largest walnut processors in the world and growing rapidly. Their success is based, in part, on their unwavering commitment to continuously improve product quality and increase production efficiencies. To further these goals, they turned to Key Technology and selected a cascading line of three digital sorters for their new facility in Fowler, California USA. The line features two Cayman® BioPrint® hyperspectral sorters and an Optyx® camera/laser sorter with three-way sorting. “Lasers and cameras and hyperspectral imaging are different tools. Each one has its strengths,” said Mike Poindexter, CEO of Poindexter Nut Company. “Cayman BioPrint removes shells better than any sorter I’ve seen, and the good-to-bad ratio is fantastic. Optyx removes shells too, but its unique strength is color and shape sorting and its three-way capability. Cayman is a chute-fed sorter that features Key’s powerful BioPrint hyperspectral sorting solution instead of traditional cameras or lasers. Coupled with intelligent software and algorithms, BioPrint recognizes the unique biological characteristics of objects to detect and remove shells effortlessly, achieving up to 99.5 percent sorting efficiency with very low false reject rates. Because it can easily handle high defect loads, including spikes of more than 50 percent, it can be used right after the cracker to separate kernels from shells. “Our number one goal on the sorting line is to get shells out. We adjust the first Cayman with a fairly aggressive setting to remove most shells and the second Cayman with a moderately aggressive setting to remove most of the rest. This approach, using two Cayman sorters that are both set to remove less than the maximum amount of shells, minimizes false rejects while delivering very clean product to the next sorter in the line, which improves its effectiveness.” Compared to Cayman BioPrint, which is a specialized sorter that targets shell removal with enormous success, Optyx is a versatile, multipurpose sorter Poindexter selected an Optyx with color cameras and lasers on a three-way sorting platform. The lasers recognize each object’s structural properties to remove shells and membrane as well as foreign material (FM) such as plastic, glass, stones and sticks, even when the material is the same color as good product. The color cameras recognize millions of color differences to help separate dark-colored nuts from light-colored nuts. “We chose Optyx for the last step of this sorting line for its two-sided, top The approach with two sorters minimizes false rejects while delivering very clean product Photos: Key Technology Rejects from the first Cayman BioPrint With these sorters, we’ve increased production capacity, improved product quality and decreased costs.” 34 food Marketing & Technology • August 2014 Processing and bottom inspection, and three-way sorting capability. One stream is used to reject membranes and any remaining shells. Another stream collects color rejects that are free of shells and don’t need to be reworked. Good product is directed to the third stream.” “This cascading line of sorters is something we’ve been working on for several years. What we have achieved is a highly effective sort system. With Cayman, our shell removal rates are vastly improved. Without it, we’d either need a fourth inline sorter or we’d have to run product through the line multiple times, increasing the handling and the product damage and costs that go with it.” “This cascading line of three sorters is much gentler than running three passes on one sorter. What hurts walnuts isn’t flying through the air, it’s accelerating and decelerating. Dropping into a bin or out of bin is what damages walnuts.” Poindexter’s new Fowler Plant started up in November 2013 to accommodate their need for greater production capacity, driven mostly by rapidly rising demand from consumers in China and the Middle East. Poindexter had been operating their Selma, California facility 20 hours per day, 354 days per year and they couldn’t shut down to expand, so they built the new Fowler Plant. The new shelling line at the Fowler Plant continuously feeds mechanical graders that feature screens and oversizers that separate small walnut pieces, which are collected in bins and sorted off-line in batches. Walnut halves, along with some large pieces and lots of shells, move through the line and are fed continuously to the new digital sorting line at a rate of up to 4.5 metric tons (10,000 lb) of walnuts per hour. That capacity is more than enough for Poindexter to process the 19,504 metric tons (43 million lb) of walnuts they currently produce each year. “I want to have the best equipment, and I’ll go to multiple suppliers to get it. It’s the performance that matters most. It’s great that Cayman BioPrint and Optyx are under one roof at Key. We receive great service from them.” The mix of kernels and shells flowing into the cascading sorting line includes a huge amount of shells; more than traditional camera or laser sorters can effectively handle. But Cayman BioPrint is not an ordinary sorter and it has no problem with this high defect load. Featuring hyperspectral imaging and sophisticated software and algorithms, BioPrint divides light into hundreds of narrow bands over a continuous range of wavelengths that cover a vast portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Compared to the three data points per pixel captured by a W E S H A P E Y O U R S U ...we C Cshape E the S world! S! Key No. 82459 The cutting edge of food extrusion technology Schaaf Technologie GmbH • [email protected] • www.foodextrusion.com food Marketing & Technology • August 2014 35 Processing means we have to decide to use the second reject stream to sort for color or shape or both at once. It may make sense to make this decision on an order-byorder basis. It’s good to have options.” Mike Poindexter “With these sorters, we’ve increased production capacity, improved product quality and decreased costs.” color camera or the single data point per pixel captured by a laser sensor, Key’s hyperspectral camera collects hundreds of data points per pixel. BioPrint’s powerful software converts this enormous volume of data to create unique biological fingerprints for each object, enabling Cayman to sort on the chemical composition of each object, and accurately identify and remove shells from kernels. “Cayman is very simple. It does one thing, and it does it incredibly well. It’s easy to use. We set it and forget it. Optyx can do more things – it’s very powerful and more complex, but easy to use compared to older sorters.” “The idea that Optyx can sort by shape is intriguing. It’s not that important to us because our new shelling line consistently cracks close to straight halves and the sorting line is so gentle that it doesn’t break those halves. I expect we’ll always use one of Optyx’s two reject streams to remove shells, membranes and foreign material, which The cascading line of three new digital sorters in action In addition to the three digital sorters, Poindexter’s new line features several of Key’s conveyors. By perfectly matching the conveyors with the sorters, an ideal system is created, which helps maximize product quality as well as production efficiencies. At the infeed to the Optyx sorter, an IsoFlo® vibratory conveyor spreads the product into a monolayer, singulating and stabilizing it for presentation to the sorter’s vision system at a consistent speed and without clumps. This IsoFlo is also a meal sifter, which helps present cleaner product to the Optyx to maximize that sorter’s performance. After sorting, another Iso-Flo gently conveys good, clean walnut halves and pieces to collection bins that are ready to go to the table for manual inspection. A third Iso-Flo, which features a divided conveyor bed, takes both reject streams from the three-way Optyx sorter to two nearby bins. The line also includes an IsoFlo and an Impulse® shaker that convey the reject streams from the two Cayman BioPrint sorters. “The vibratory shakers from Key work well here and are extremely reliable. Unlike belt conveyors, they don’t get gummed up with meal – the stainless steel, flat-beds are very clean. Superior sanitation is a major benefit that contributes to food safety.” “Our new processing line is more efficient, which allows us to pay our growers more, enabling us to increase our supply. This, along with our good prices and phenomenal quality, position us well for growth,” concluded Poindexter. “We have a sorting system that raises the bar on quality and efficiency and gives us room to continue growing. Great new ideas like this could give us a competitive advantage or we could share what we’ve learned and be part of a rising tide. We have this new machinery to raise the standards.” Key No. 84319 36 food Marketing & Technology • August 2014