Jig separation of plastics from scrapped copy machines

Abstract

A TACUB jig was applied to separate waste plastics [polystyrene (PS), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET)] used in copy machine. The effect of water pulsation including amplitude and frequency on the separation performance was investigated for the feeds containing three plastics. Good results were obtained under suitable conditions. Grades of 99.8% PS, 99.3% ABS, and 98.6% PET were recovered as the products in the top, middle and bottom layers, respectively. Based on these results, a processing pilot plant for recycling of plastics from scrapped copy machines was constructed. Two cells of a TACUB jig were used in the plant to separate the plastics containing PS, ABS and PET, where PET was recovered from the first cell as bottom layer product, and ABS and PS from the second cell as bottom and top layer products, respectively. A monitor and control system of the jig operation was developed. High recoveries of PET, ABS, and PS with high grades were achieved, and the Newton's efficiency of the first cell was 0.99.