Electrostatic separation: Complement of mechanic recycling processes of industrial waste

The electrostatic separation of metals and insulators from granular mixtures is more and more widely used in the waste recycling industry. The aim of this paper is double: (1) present the procedure that is employed for the development of new applications, by using a pilot-plant installation, designed and built by the authors; (2) illustrate the usefulness of electrostatic separation as a complement to mechanical techniques employed for industrial waste processing. The study was carried out on samples furnished by an Algerian company specialised in the recycling of electric cable wastes. The limit values of the two control variables of the process (roll-speed and high-voltage level) were established after a set of preliminary experiments. Pilot-plant tests confirmed the efficiency of the electrostatic separation for two copper-plastic granular mixtures. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.