ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF POLYMER POWDERS

Polyethylene and polyvinylchloride are the most abundant plastic materials in municipal waste. However, no technology is commercially available so far for an efficient recovery of these materials. We studied the separation of polyethylene (PE) from polyvinylchloride (PVC) powder particles in an electric field separator after tribocharging. Tribocharging of the particles took place in a copper-lined cyclone separator. The influence of electric field strength, relative humidity of the air and particle velocity on the separation efficiency was investigated. The average recovered content of the PE fractions was >90% at a mass yield of >60%. The average recovered content of PVC was >40% with an average mass yield of >30%.