Numerical modeling of the trajectories of plastic granules in a tribo-aero-electrostatic separator

A tribo-aero-electrostatic separator has been recently patented for the selective sorting of granular plastics mixtures generated during the recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipments (WEEE). The plastics are tribo-charged in a parallelepiped fluidized bed device, two opposite walls of which being the electrodes that generate the electric field that performs the separation. In two previous papers, different sets of operating parameters of this separator have been studied by hundreds of experiments, in order to improve the efficiency of the process and the purity of the products. The aim of the present paper is to complement these studies by establishing a model for computing the trajectory of plastics granules in such separator. The distribution of electric field and the profile of the airflow between electrodes were expressed using simple analytical formulas, which were introduced in the system of differential equations that served for the calculation of granule trajectories under the action of the various electric and mechanical forces. The computations were performed for various operating parameters: applied-voltage, granule size, charge density. The model can guide the design of industrial tribo-aero-electrostatic separators and the choice of the optimum values of the operating variables of such equipment.

► WEEE recycling employs tribo-aero-electrostatic separation of granular plastics.
► A fluidized bed and an electrostatic separators are combined in one unit.
► Aim: establish a model for computing the trajectory of plastics granules.
► Electric field distribution and airflow profile are taken into account.
► Differential equations express the action of mechanical and electrical forces.