Electrostatic separator for micronized mixtures of metals and plastics originating from waste electric and electronic equipment

In spite of their extensive use for processing mixtures of granules exceeding 1 mm in size, very few industrial electrostatic separators are capable of handling micronized metals and plastics originating from waste electric and electronic equipment. The aim of the present work is to validate the possibility of using a novel belt-type electrostatic separator for the selective sorting of such particulate mixtures, the dimensions of which are in the order of 0.1 mm. In this type of separator, the metal particles get charged by electrostatic induction in contact with the grounded metal belt electrode, while the plastics remain uncharged in the electric field and are collected separately. The experiments are performed with 2-g samples of a mixture composed in equal proportions (50% - 50%) of Aluminium and Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) particles of average diameter ranging between 125 μm and 250 μm. They enabled the evaluation of the effects and the interaction of two control variables of the process: the angle of inclination of the roll-type electrode and the high voltage applied to it.