1. P&P Optica Waterloo, Ontario
PPO Chemical Imaging for Enhanced Profitability in the Agri-Food Industry
3 imagines
Spectroscopy – 15 years
Place these two points:
Improved bitumen extraction
Reduced waste…..cleaner waste
P&P Optica
Waterloo, Ontario

2. P&P Optica 2015

3. Analyze the chemical composition
Chemical Imaging data
Chemical imaging:
A vision technique
A fancy camera
Analyze the chemical composition
of materials
The ability to
“see chemistry”
P&P Optica 2016

4. About P&P Optica
We manufacture innovative systems that generate chemical imaging data.
Our innovative chemical imaging technology can “see” the chemical composition of materials.
These materials include agri-foods of all kinds because food and chemistry are intertwined.
P&P Optica 2016

5. Chemical Imaging 101 photons of various energies some energies
reflected
some energies absorbed
by molecules
P&P Optica 2016

6. Proven in Recycling
Recyclers are using PPO technology to “see” chemistry and thus sort plastics faster and more effectively than historically possible.
Three times faster……increased revenue.
More effectively….plastics sorted into homogenous batches are more valuable.
P&P Optica 2016

7. Agri-Food Industry: Address Key Challenges
Efficiency
Quality
Safety
Optimize processes:
Reduce waste
Divert lower quality product
Grading:
Increase revenues
Access new markets
Competitive advantage
Foreign objects:
Recalls
Lawsuits
Prevention – costly and inefficient

8. Waste Problem in Produce
Current sorting technology is inefficient
Evaluates leaves based on size, shape, colour only
Waste stream – over 80% is good spinach
Volume! 3,300 pounds of spinach per hour
Current level of waste has an
accepted standard which isn’t
acceptable!
In a highly-competitive market:
Increase capacity
Cut costs
Address inefficiencies
Looking at spinach as a specific example…..
High volume product – 3,300 pounds per hour
Currently used technology is ineffective – size, colour, shape only
In the waste stream – can be the case that over 80% is good spinach
That “waste stream” isn’t used in any other products – it’s carted away.
Conventional thinking is that under competitive pressure, where it’s grow or die, what comes first – expansion, cutting costs, or addressing the inefficiencies?
How about all three, but addressing the inefficiencies before replicating processing lines.
What comes first?
P&P Optica 2015

9. Traditional Imaging
Information about:
Size, colour, shape

10. PPO Chemical Imaging See chemical makeup: As well as:
Moisture, degradants, impurities, chemical reactions, leaf health
As well as:
Size, colour, shape

11. Fat
Bone
Meat

12. Fat
Bone
Meat

13. Fat
Bone
Meat

14. Solving problems with Chemical Imaging
Quality analysis - grading
Degradation (expiry)
Formulated product – in spec?
Product purity
Contaminants present?
Harvesting readiness
Crop health
P&P Optica 2016

15. Very special thanks to Tyler Whale Kathy Derksen
P&P Optica 2016