U2Robotics
Plastic Sorter –
- Plastic recycling system for PS, HIPS, PP, PVC, PEBD, PEHD, ABS, PC, PET.
- Tribo Electrostatic separation system.
- A first set of systems involved eight granular polymers, size 6mm to 12mm, originating from waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE).
Technical characteristics of plastic sorting system
Speed
1T – 2T /h
Dimension
8m x 6m x 6m
Purity rate
> 99%
Output product size
6mm to 12mm
– Components parts of the automated plastic sorter –
- Input hopper
- Big bag station (input/ouput)
- Triboelectric charger (technology depends of input plastic)
- High voltage electrical separator
- Conveyors and buckets elevator
– Options of the plastic sorter –
- Electrical neutralizer
- Weighing scale input/ouput
- Servo conveyor
– Description of the sorting machine for plastic waste –
The efficiency of the electrostatic separation of granular plastics wastes depends on the electric charge acquired by the particles in appropriate tribocharging devices.
The objective of machines is the development and functional optimization of new tribocharger design consisting of an assembly of six cylinders, made of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Acryl-methyl Butadiene Styrene (ABS) or Polycarbonate (PC) that can rotate at variable speed and be inclined at a certain angle with respect to the horizontal plane.
The performances of the triboelectric charger were evaluated by measuring the charge per mass ratio of the granules collected at the outlet of the device.
A first set of systems involved eight granular polymers, size 2 mm to 6 mm, originating from waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE). The polymers could be arranged in a triboelectric series with respect to the amount of charge acquired in contact to the PVC, ABS and PC cylinders.
A second set of systems were carried out with Polystyrene (PS) granules and enabled the choice of the limits of variation of the two factors that were expected to affect the tribocharging: the inclination of the 6-PVC-cylinder assembly and its rotation speed. Finally, design of experiments methodology was used for modeling and optimization of the process.Electrostatic separation is able to process mixtures of plastics from waste electrical and electronic equipment.
