Vibro-electrostatic separation of plastic mixtures (3rd report, effect of inclination on separation efficiency in inclined electrodes)

This paper presents the results of an experimental and analytical study of plastic mixtures using a new vibro electrostatic separator. The separator consists of a vibratory feeder equipped with two plate electrodes and the electrodes can be inclined about two axes with respect to the horizontal plane. The principle behind the separation technique is based on the difference in Coulomb force acting on the plastic particles after triboelectric charging. The separation tests were performed on a sample containing acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polystyrene (PS). Their particles obtained from chopped plastic plates were used. The influence of inclination angle of the electrodes and tribocharging time on the separation efficiency was investigated. In the case of the separation of a mixture of 50% ABS and 50% PS, the purity was larger than 99% for a recovery of 95%. It is also shown that for several kinds of composition ratio it is possible to obtain high purity and recovery of plastics.