During the sorting process, materials move through a series of advanced mechanical processes. These processes include conveyor belts, rotating drums, and powerful magnets.

Nearly the entire process is automated — only about 20 people help with sorting the material, said Carl D'Astous, director of special projects with Matrec-GFL, which built and operates the facility.

In the published work, this process of molecular sorting is studied with mathematical tools and computer simulations, showing that the propensity to aggregation is the main control parameter of ...