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Experimental Investigation of a New Tribo-Aeroelectrostatic Separation Process for Micronized Plastics From WEEE

Tribo-electrostatic separation of mm-size granular insulating materials is a process widely used in the plastics recycling industry. However, the separation of micronized plastics is still inefficient because of their tendency to aggregate. The paper is aimed at validating the feasibility of a new tribo-aero-electrostatic separation process for micronized mixed plastics originating from waste electric and electronic equipment. The separation process is based on a fluidized bed tribocharging system equipped with rotating roll electrode connected to a dc high-voltage supply. The micronized insulating materials to be separated (white and grey polyvinyl chloride particles of average size 20 µm) were tribocharged using the fluidization air provided by a variable-speed blower. The charged particles were pinned to the rotating electrode of opposite polarity. This process enabled the sorting of one product while the other materials were left in the fluidized bed. The new electrode configuration has the merit to significantly reduce the particle aggregation problem that affects the operation of other fluidized-bed-type tribocharging devices. The separation outcome, in terms of recovery and purity, depended on several factors, and was found to be optimal for a voltage of 35 kV and a rotation speed of roll electrode of 60 r/min. This new process was also tested for ternary mixtures of granular plastics and the obtained results demonstrate its effectiveness for recovering a targeted product, according to the voltage polarity, leaving the other products in the fluidized bed.