Laser-assisted sorting of minerals

For determination of the composition of minerals, at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology a laser method was developed that can be used for the fast online analysis of a wide range of raw materials. The non-contact multi-element analysis with which a direct sorting criterion can be determined, also enables automatic and economic single-particle sorting of rocks and ores. On a demonstration rig, an efficient reduction of the MgO content of limestone production samples could be realized.