| Abstract: | A triboelectrostatic separation system using a fluidized-bed tribocharger for the removal of PVC material in the mixture of PVC/PET plastics was designed and evaluated as a function of tribocharger material, air flow rate, electric field strength, and the mixing ratio of two-component mixed plastics. The test system consists of the fluidized-bed tribocharger, a separation chamber, a collection chamber and a controller. PVC and PET particles can be imparted negative and positive surface charges, respectively, due to the difference in the work function values of plastics suspended in the fluidized-bed tribocharger, and can be separated by passing them through an external electric field. Experimental results show that separation efficiency is strongly dependent on the tribocharger material, electric field strength and particles mixing ratio. In the optimum conditions of 150l/m air flow rate and 2.6 kV/cm electric field strength, highly concentrated PVC (99.1%) can be recovered with a yield of more than 95% from the mixture of PVC and PET materials for a single stage of processing. |
