Potash Evaluation by Machine Vision

The Situation

Dead Sea Works, a business unit of ICL Fertilizers, is the world's fourth largest producer and supplier of potash products. The facility harnesses unique environmental conditions to extract potash from the mineral-rich Dead Sea through evaporation pools. Potash is delivered from the pools to a processing plant for further processing. During the processing various contaminants can become mixed in with the potash. Foreign materials and impure potash pieces have traditionally been removed from production manually, requiring highly inefficient stopping and restarting of conveyor belts or processing components.

The Challenge

Com-N-Sense was tasked by Dead Sea Works to implement a real time automated quality assurance solution for potash inspection. The challenge was to produce accurate results for a high production volume in harsh environmental conditions.

The Solution

After working with the customer to define potash quality parameters, Com-N-Sense designed a machine vision system to quickly grade and sort materials entering a processing facility. Through two pilot stages, Com-N-Sense developed an algorithm to analyze potash with a camera mounted over the potash conveyor. Factors affecting the analysis included size, color and composition. An additional challenge was to design a protective enclosure for the camera. A clear field of view had to be maintained while simultaneously shielding the camera from temperatures exceeding 70C, dust and vibrations.

Com-N-Sense developed a solution to efficiently inspect potash as it enters the plant - a real-time machine vision inspection system determining how potash should be processed and sorted. The high quality potash is sent to storage and impure potash is sent to separate piles for additional treatment. The system is connected to the factory control room, where a dedicated feed enables plant managers to remotely observe the quality level of materials entering the facility at all times.

Com-N-Sense successfully designed, developed and delivered the precision automated screening required by Dead Sea Works. The system worked exceedingly well, leading Dead Sea Works to install it on multiple potash processing lines. This unique solution is estimated to save several hundred thousand dollars per annually.