Electrostatic separation technology for waste plastics-development of a high-purity type separator for plastics

Abstract

We succeeded in commercializing a high purity electrostatic separator. This paper gives a general description of the high-purity electrostatic separator and separation performance. The following are the main conclusions. (1) This separator can separate high purity plastics from mixed plastics. For example, applying this separator to a separation of polyethylene and polypropylene mixture, both plastics are separated with more than 99% purity. (2) The distinguishing characteristic of this separator is that charged plastics are supplied to an electrostatic field while touching a drum electrode. One kind of plastic is adsorbed securely on the drum by the electrostatic force. Therefore, this separator can realize high purity separation.