Optical sorting helps boost Chile’s seed economy

Bühler’s SORTEX® optical sorting technology is enabling Monsanto to improve quality, reduce operational time and decrease the amount of valuable seeds discarded of the 350,000kg that it cleans annually. The world’s leading vegetable seed producer has installed a SORTEX A MultiVision™ sorter in its Viluco plant in Chile – at the heart of the country’s central valley seed producing region – where it exports 70 percent of this low volume, high value product.

The Viluco plant (pictured), one of six Monsanto seed facilities around the world, and the largest in South America, handles more than 500 seed varieties from 19 vegetable species. As well as seed cleaning and treatment, the plant carries out germination testing and variety purity tests also known as Purity Grow Out, before packaging and distributing its high-quality seeds to more than 20 countries on five continents. This accounts for a large proportion of Chile’s US$150m seed exports per year and as such plays a vital role in the country’s economy.
Monsanto took delivery of the SORTEX optical sorter earlier this year and is already reaping the rewards of using sophisticated technology.  Ensuring high quality seeds was one of the company’s main objectives and because of the accuracy of the advanced Bühler inspection system, it has been able to eliminate weeds and unwanted seeds – even those with the subtlest colour defects - that could not be removed with competitor equipment. Indeed, according to the company, all contaminants – including brassica campestris, which was previously impossible to eliminate from brassica crops – can now be removed, enabling Monsanto to improve the purity of its seeds.

Minimising the loss of ‘good’ seeds was another priority for Monsanto when selecting an optical sorting supplier. With the previous technology good seed rejection rates were as high as five percent but thanks to the precision of Bühler’s high speed ejection technology, it has dropped to one percent - a significant decrease when taking into account that some seeds are worth hundreds of dollars per pound.

Decreasing operational time was a further requirement for Monsanto when investing in Bühler’s sorting equipment. Previously seeds would be passed through the sorter numerous times before they met specifications – for example, a carrot seed - the most difficult to clean – would require six to seven passes. Now, with the precision of the SORTEX A MultiVision™, the process takes two to three passes.

A prerequisite for further reducing operating time was to have a quick and easy product changeover, particularly since the business processes more than 500 seed varieties. Until now the team could have spent up to two days changing filters and lamps, to enable them to start sorting a different seed type.  If the seeds required manual cleaning, this could take a week. The SORTEX A MultiVision™ is already pre-programmed so that changeovers are automatic and can be completed in a couple of hours, rather than days, without the need for costly machine downtime.

Uriel Agustin Tosco, president of Sortechnology SPA, South America, explains more about why Monsanto chose SORTEX technology. “Monsanto is increasing production at Viluco in line with its changing distribution model that sees it processing more product in the region in which it will be sold. This means it needed sorting technology that rejected the least amount of good product, required fewer passes through the sorter and is capable of much greater accuracy in detecting defects.

“Monsanto trialled several different brands of sorter, discovering that Bühler offered the most accurate and efficient sort. Aside from the level of rejected good seed falling, the SORTEX A MultiVision™ has also significantly reduced operational times in terms of the number of passes certain seed varieties require before they meet specifications. At the same time, Bühler’s SORTEX® technology is able to automatically adjust to different seed types without the need for several days down-time while the sorter is cleaned.”

Pablo Rosales, Viluco Site and Plant Operations Lead, says of the Bühler SORTEX technology: “The SORTEX A allows us to meet the highest quality requirements in the world market and drive our production capacity and throughput per hour. The flexibility and versatility of the technology allows us to easily switch between seeds, while maintaining a very low concentration of rejected good seeds.”

About Bühler

 Every day, billions of people come into contact with Bühler process technologies to cover their basic needs for food and mobility. Our solutions ensure healthy and safe food for two billion on a daily basis, and they help move one billion people per day. Together with our customers and partners, we develop innovations for a better world with a focus on sustainability, health, safety, and energy efficiency. We help manufacturers produce healthy and safe food, manufacture higher-efficiency vehicles, improve eyesight, advance telecommunications, and make buildings more economical.

 As a leading technology group, Bühler invests up to 5% of its turnover every year in research and development. In 2017, around 11,000 employees in over 140 countries generated a turnover of CHF 2.7 billion. As a globally active Swiss family-owned company, we are particularly committed to sustainability.

 We want our customers to be successful. We want every human being to have access to healthy food. We want to protect the climate with energy-efficient cars, buildings, and machinery.