Sie sind auf Seite 1von 13

Review

Triboelectrostatic separation for granular plastic waste recycling: A review


Guiqing Wu, Jia Li

, Zhenming Xu
School of Environmental Science & Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 21 June 2012
Accepted 18 October 2012
Available online 28 November 2012
Keywords:
Plastic waste
Waste recycling
Triboelectrostatic separation
a b s t r a c t
The worlds plastic consumption has increased incredibly in recent decades, generating more and more
plastic waste, which makes it a great public concern. Recycling is the best treatment for plastic waste
since it cannot only reduce the waste but also reduce the consumption of oil for producing new virgin
plastic. Mechanical recycling is recommended for plastic waste to avoid the loss of its virgin value. As
a mechanical separation technology, triboelectrostatic separation utilizes the difference between surface
properties of different materials to get them oppositely charged, deected in the electric eld and sepa-
rately collected. It has advantages such as high efciency, low cost, no concern of water disposal or sec-
ondary pollution and a relatively wide processing range of particle size especially suitable for the
granular plastic waste. The process of triboelectrostatic separation for plastic waste is reviewed in this
paper. Different devices have been developed and proven to be effective for separation of plastic waste.
The inuence factors are also discussed. It can be concluded that the triboelectrostatic separation of plas-
tic waste is a promising technology. However, more research is required before it can be widely applied in
industry.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The past decades have witnessed an incredible and consistent
growth in the consumption of plastics due to their good safety,
low cost, durability, lighter weight than competing materials, and
extreme versatility and ability to be tailored to meet specic tech-
nical needs (Siddique et al., 2008). It has been reported that in 2010
the global production of plastics increased to 265 million tonnes,
conrming the long term trend of plastic production growth of al-
most 5% per year over the past 20 years (as shown in Fig. 1), while
there is still room for further growth (PlasticsEurope, 2011). Each
year, around 4% of global oil production represents the cost for
the creation of plastic raw materials. An additional equivalent 4%
of global oil production is required as energy to convert the plastic
materials into prototype or nished products at the same time
(EuPC, 2009).
Plastics are widely applied in packaging, building and construc-
tion, automotive and electrical and electronic equipment, with
packaging being the largest segment. Although plastic products
usually have excellent durability, more than half of them are dis-
carded as waste each year. The increased demand for plastic has
generated rapid growth in production as well as disposal of plastic
waste. It can be concluded that plastic waste has become one of the
larger categories in municipal solid waste (MSW), especially in
industrial countries. For example, in the US, plastic waste found
in MSW has increased from 9.5% in 1994 (USEPA, 1995) to 12.4%
in 2010 (USEPA, 2011). Fig. 2 illustrates the composition of MSW
in the US. Since the total amount of MSW is increasing rapidly with
urban development and population growth, a constant growth of
plastic waste can be expected in both developing and developed
countries (Chen et al., 2011). As a consequence, the question of
the disposal of plastic waste generated by industry and household-
ers has gained a growing public concern.
Plenty of toxic materials including dioxins and hydrochloric
acid can be easily produced and cause huge damage to the environ-
ment if plastic waste is not managed properly (Ali and Siddiqui,
2005; Mlgaard, 1995; Simoneit et al., 2005; Wey et al., 1998).
Landll is becoming more and more expensive due to the increas-
ing volume of waste and the decreasing landll capacity for dis-
posal. More signicantly, landll of plastic waste is a waste of
valuable resources. It also causes a series of problems, such as addi-
tives leaching and land occupation (Lea, 1996; Oehlmann, 2009).
Incineration is widely applied in energy recycling for plastic waste.
Plenty of energy can be recycled during the process and be used for
electricity generation, combined heat and power, or some other
processes (Astrup et al., 2009b). However, incineration can also
be rather risky since many toxic components are found in the y
ash and the residues in concentration that exceed the admissible
limits, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs),
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dioxins (PCDs)
and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), which may cause
carcinogenesis, teratogenesis and mutagenesis (Chung, 2010;
Gilpin et al., 2005; Li et al., 2001).
0956-053X/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2012.10.014

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: weee@sjtu.edu.cn (J. Li).
Waste Management 33 (2013) 585597
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Waste Management
j our nal homepage: www. el sevi er . com/ l ocat e/ wasman
Compared to landll and incineration, recycling of plastic waste
is much more acceptable and environment friendly. Recycling is
not only an approach for disposing plastic waste, but also an effec-
tive way to reduce the requirement for virgin plastics production,
which can contribute to saving with respect to global warming
(Astrup et al., 2009a). The terminology for plastics recycling is
quite complex. Commonly it can be divided roughly into two main
categories: mechanical recycling and chemical recycling. Most
thermoplastics such as poly ethylene terephthalate (PET), polypro-
pylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) have high potential to be re-
melted and mechanically recycled, while for thermoset plastics,
chemical recycling are more adaptable. Compared to chemical
recycling, mechanical recycling is more convenient and has a low
degree of pollution generation and cost. Mechanical recycling is
also a better way to maintain the intrinsic value of plastic and
avoid the loss of non-renewable resources. Sadat-Shojai summa-
rized the methods of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) recycling and com-
pared their strong and weak points as shown in Table 1.
Recycling of PVC is not a representative example of polymer recy-
cling, since PVC includes Cl in its macromolecular chains in con-
trast to other polyolens (low density polyethylene (LDPE), high
density polyethylene (HDPE), PP, etc.) or polyesters which include
only C, H and O, but it is also useful in evaluating the processes of
recycling other similar plastic waste, especially for mixed plastic
waste which contain Cl or other toxic elements or compounds
(Sadat-Shojai and Bakhshandeh, 2011). It shows that mechanical
recycling is a promising method with low pollution, low cost and
the most government support.
The most crucial challenge for mechanical recycling is that plas-
tic waste needs to be separated effectively. Mechanical recycling is
high-sensitive to the impurities. Different types of plastic are usu-
ally not compatible with each other. All of them have different
physical characteristics such as melting point, density and hard-
ness, so mixed plastics cannot present their original characteristics
and the practical value descends. More signicantly, the chemical
immiscibility makes it desperately sensitive to the purity. For
example, even small quantity of PVC in another main plastic would
decrease the recycling ratio of plastics by forming compounds or
deteriorating the nature of other materials (Wey et al., 1998); it
is also reported that PET in a PVC recycle stream will signicantly
reduces the value of the recycled material by forming solid lumps
of crystalline PET (Hopewell et al., 2009). Therefore, mixed plastic
waste is valueless. However, it can get greatly increased value after
it was separated into pure components. Nowadays households are
the main source of plastic waste stream and they are still mainly
collected by curbside collections, which are usually mixed of differ-
ent kinds of plastic waste (Al-Salem et al., 2009; Hopewell et al.,
2009), separation of high efciency seems to be an urgent need
in practical recycling. Hence, in order to improve the value and
the recycling rate of plastic waste, it is really necessary to build a
sound and effective separation process for plastic waste separation.
Optical sorting is used as a pre-sorting process for material
(size: +40 mm 60 mm) before size reduction rather than a sepa-
ration method for plastic waste scraps. Automatic devices based
on optical, X-ray, and near infrared (NIR) technologies are widely
used in plastic recycling facilities all over the world. However,
due to the poor spectral signature obtained, black fragments in
the plastic stream can hardly be processed through this way. It is
also difcult to separate the mixed plastics which have similar
properties such as same color and peak (Arvanitoyannis and
Bosnea, 2001; Huth-Fehre et al., 1995; Scott, 1995). The diversity
of different density of various plastics makes it possible to nd
an appropriate medium to separate the heavier plastics from light-
er ones. It can be conducted either with dry particles using air ta-
bles or zigzag air classiers or by water-based solutions or
suspensions as separating medias (Dodbiba et al., 2003a; Gent
et al., 2009; Hu and Calo, 2006). However, since many plastics have
overlapping density ranges and similar typical densities as shown
in Table 2 (Malcolm Richard et al., 2011) (for example, PVC is
1.39 g cm
3
and PET is 1.37 g cm
3
), it is not easy to separate them
by density separation. Selective otation has high recovery and
purity, especially is suitable for some plastics such as PVC and
polyoxymethylene (POM) which are difcult to be separated by
density media separation (Shent et al., 1999). However, the
maximum size of particles for otation is no more than 500 lm
(Malcolm Richard et al., 2011), and the selective otation cannot
be achieved without changing surface properties for the plastics
with similar surface properties, such as PVC and PET (Burat et al.,
2009). For wet density separation or otation, water is needed in
the whole process, which causes a concern about secondary pollu-
tion. Dewatering or drying the mixture after separation cannot be
avoided.
As a dry technique, electrostatic separation utilizing corona
charging has been successfully applied to separate metal/non-me-
tal mixtures (Gente et al., 2003; Hou et al., 2010; Li et al., 2007).
However, such technologies are only suitable for separating con-
ductors from dielectrics, but not able to separate a mixture of dif-
ferent dielectrics such as mixed plastics. As a consequence,
triboelectrostatic separation has been studied for materials separa-
tion especially for separation of insulators.
Triboelectrostatic separation is denitely one of the most
important and promising materials-processing techniques. In the
Fig. 1. World plastics production 19502010 (PlasticsEurope, 2011).
Fig. 2. The composition of MSW in the US in 2010 (USEPA, 2011).
586 G. Wu et al. / Waste Management 33 (2013) 585597
last century, triboelectrostatic separation methods have undergone
continuous development and are well established in the mineral
processing industry for separation of minerals, beneciation of coal
or raw ore (Ban et al., 1997; Kwetkus, 1998; Li et al., 1999). Since
1970s in the last century, this technique has been researched for
separating mixed plastics (Pearse and Hickey, 1978). In 1990s, it
was found that this progress could be suited for separating mixed
plastic materials especially the tailings and plastics from car or
cable scrap (Stahl and Beier, 1996). Identication and sorting of
waste packing materials including different plastics can also be
done by using of triboelectrostatic techniques (Hearn and Ballard,
2005). Since triboelectrostatic separation is a dry process, it is free
of the problem of the disposal of waste water and can be easily
operated. The recoveries and purities in the researches indicate
that it is an effective method for separating plastic waste of reason-
able size. Since it has many advantages over other separation
methods, more and more relevant researches of triboelectrostatic
separation for plastic recycling have been carried out in recent
years (Dascalescu, 2011; Inculet et al., 1994; Iuga et al., 2005;
Lungu, 2004; Park et al., 2008a).
Table 3 shows, in brief, a comparison among the main separa-
tion methods of plastic waste. Triboelectrostatic separation has
high efciency, low cost and no concern of water disposal or sec-
ondary pollution, with a wider processing range of particle size
especially suitable for the crushed or granular plastic waste. For
the mixed plastic waste scraps of particle size in millimeters, tribo-
electrostatic separation has undoubtedly great advantages, which
indicates a promising future for this technique in plastic recycling.
However, more research should be carried out until it can be
widely utilized in industry. This paper aims to introduce the tribo-
electrostatic separation technology for the plastic waste and pres-
ent the recent progress in separating plastic waste by it.
2. Triboelectrostatic separation
It is well known that when two materials with different surface
properties contact each other, they may get charged. This tribo-
charging phenomenon is also known as contact electrication or
frictional electrication when materials rub against each other
(Lowell and Rose-Innes, 1980). As for short contact during collision,
it can also be called impact charging (Matsusaka and Masuda,
2003). In practice, it is usually not easy to distinguish the process
for charging, so the term triboelectric charging or tribo-charging
is used in such a broad sense (Matsusaka et al., 2010).
It is generally believed that the mechanism of charge transfer in
tribocharging can be explained by three mechanisms: electron
transfer, ion transfer, and material transfer (Lee, 1994; Lowell
and Rose-Innes, 1980; Matsusaka et al., 2010; Matsusaka and
Masuda, 2003; Saurenbach et al., 1992). Among all the mecha-
nisms, electron transfer mechanism is the most important and
widely accepted since it has successfully explained the metal
metal contact electrication. When two different materials come
to contact, electrons transfer happens until their Fermi level
equals. Difference in work functions between them is the main
driving force (Harper, 1951). As for insulators, there is no available
free electron in them, so work function theory is not applicable.
Some modied models such as surface state model (Anderson,
1994; Gutman and Hartmann, 1992), molecularion-state model
(Duke and Fabish, 1978) have been proposed and quantum chem-
ical calculation (Yoshida et al., 2006) is also introduced to explain
the tribocharging phenomenon between insulators. Although there
are still many unknowns, it is widely accepted that the electron
transfers only happen on the surfaces of insulators; electrons move
Table 2
Ranges in densities and typical densities of several common plastics (Malcolm
Richard et al., 2011).
Plastic type Abbreviation Range in
densities
(g cm
3
)
Typical
density
(g cm
3
)
. . .
Low density polyethylene LDPE 0.9180.93 0.932
Medium density
polyethylene
MDPE 0.9260.940 0.935
High density polyethylene HDPE 0.9410.965 0.94
Polystyrene PS 1.031.07 1.06
Cross-linked polyethylene XLPE 1.151.28 1.15
. . .
Poly(vinyl chloride) PVC 1.371.42 1.39
Poly(ethylene terephthalate) PET 1.351.40 1.37
. . .
Polytetrauoroethylene PTFE 2.072.20 2.17
Table 3
Comparison of different methods for separation of plastic waste.
Method of
separation
Separation
basis
Wet
or
dry
Particle
size for
processing
Features
Optical sorting Difference
between colors
and peaks
Dry >40
60 mm
Low pollution,
especially
suitable for
drinking bottles.
Density
separation
Difference
between
densities
Wet/
dry
It depends
on the
device
Simple, costly
competitive.
Flotation Difference
between
surface
properties
Wet <500 lm High efciency,
exible.
Triboelectrostatic
Separation
Difference
between
effective
surface work
function
Dry 0.1
13 mm
Suitable for
most plastics,
efcient, low
pollution.
Table 1
The comparison of different approaches for disposing of PVC waste (Sadat-Shojai and Bakhshandeh, 2011).
Method of
disposing
Sensitivity to
impurities
Degree of
pollution
generation
Costs Recycled
product(s)
Properties of the
recycled material
Number of plants
in operation
around the world
Accepting by
countries
Landlling Non-sensitive Very high Low-cost No materials
recycled
Large Non-acceptable
Incineration Usually
non-sensitive
Very high Usually
low-cost
Energy Usually energetically not efcient. Large Non-acceptable
Mechanical
recycling
High-sensitive Low Middle-cost PVC It is dependent on feed material
and processing variables of recycling.
Fair Highly-acceptable
Chemical
recycling
Relatively sensitive Usually low Usually
high-cost
Diverse raw
materials
It is dependent on feed material
and processing variables of recycling.
Small Low acceptable
G. Wu et al. / Waste Management 33 (2013) 585597 587
from the lled surface of insulator 1 to the empty surface of insu-
lator 2 until their Fermi level equals; the main driving force for the
charge transfer is the difference in the effective work functions of
the two surfaces.
Tribocharging was used in electric spray guns for dry powder
coating in order to minimize the disruption of the deposited layer.
It was also used in electro-photography where the latent image on
the surface of the photoconducting drum is developed by pouring
charged toner particles over the drum surface (Taylor and Secker,
1994).
Triboelectrostatic separation utilizes tribocharging phenome-
non to get different materials charged in opposite polarities and
then feed them into electric eld to separate them by their differ-
ent charge polarities. The particle trajectories are deected in the
electric eld according to the polarities and the amounts of charge.
After contact, two solids with different charge polarities are sepa-
rated by electric eld and collected.
Since plastics usually have different surface properties i.e. effec-
tive surface work functions, triboelectrostatic separation can be
certainly available for the plastic waste processing. It is difcult
to measure the exactly effective work function of every granular
plastic, but the triboelectric series of plastics can express a se-
quence of the relative work functions of plastics as an important
indicator for the material separation, since it determines the polar-
ity of the materials get charged with (Park et al., 2008b). A number
of researchers have drawn up triboelectric series to predict the
polarity of the charge that is transferred from one surface to an-
other. Several published triboelectric series of plastics studied by
different methods are shown in Table 4.
When two kinds of plastic contact each other, the upper one in
the triboelectric series will get positively charged and the other
one will be negatively charged. The triboelectric series indicates
the differences between the surface properties of plastics as well
as the possibility of the triboelectrostatic separation for plastic
waste. Based on the principle of tribocharging, many investigations
of devices of triboelectrostatic separation for mixed plastics have
been studied. For example, PVC is a commonly hazardous material
that should be removed from other plastic waste and it is almost
the most negative except for polytetrauoroethylene (PTFE) in
the series. Many researchers take the advantage of it, getting the
mixed plastic waste tribocharged, getting PVC negatively charged
and other plastics positively charged, thus PVC can be removed
from other plastics by electrostatic deection and be collected on
the positive electrode (Jeon et al., 2009; Lee and Shin, 2002; Park
et al., 2007b).
It can also be concluded from Table 4 that there is no universal
triboelectric series. Some results remain controversial such as the
sequence of PP, PE and PET. This is due to the fact that the exper-
imental conditions varied from experiment to experiment. It has
also been reported that the additives in the commercial plastics
also inuence the results of the triboelectric series (Matsushita
et al., 1999). Nevertheless, the triboelectric series can provide a
roughly prediction for the recycling of plastic waste in the tribo-
electrostatic separation.
3. Triboelectrostatic separation for plastic waste
Triboelectrostatic separation for recycling plastic waste is abso-
lutely an economically satisfactory mechanical process for its sim-
plicity. Fig. 3 shows a owchart for the separation of plastics. To be
separated, plastic waste is usually crushed and screened into prop-
er size, the mixture granules get charged by a tribocharger, and
then are fed into a electric eld for deection and then collected.
3.1. Pretreatment
Plastic waste is usually crushed to the optimum size range by
cutting mills or shredders (Dodbiba et al., 2005; Park et al.,
2007a). Sieves are usually needed for the classication.
The suitable particle size for triboelectrostatic separation
varies from device to device. It has been reported that the
Table 4
Comparison of published triboelectric series.
Diaz and Felix-Navarro (2004) Iuga et al. (2005) Fujita et al. (1995) Park et al. (2008b) Matsushita et al. (1999) Park et al. (2007a)
"Positive charge
Nylon 6.6 Al
PVAc
PVOH
PMMA PMMA PMMA PMMA
GPPS
ABS ABS ABS
PP Calibre
PC PC
PS PMMA HIPS PS
Rubber
PET PET PET
PE PE PE HDPE PE Cu
PI PET LDPE HDPE
PP PP HOMOPP PP PP
PET COPP
PVC PVC PVC Soft-PVC
Hard-PVC PVC PVC
PTFE PTFE PTFE
;Negative charge
Fig. 3. Flowchart of triboelectrostatic separation for plastic waste.
588 G. Wu et al. / Waste Management 33 (2013) 585597
triboelectrostatic separation method is effective for the particles of
size in the range of 113 mm (Outotec, 2008). It is also reported
that the cyclone separator can be effective for plastic particles of
size in the range around 150 lm (Yanar and Kwetkus, 1995).
It is well-known that for insulators tribocharging only happens
on the surfaces of the particles, as deep as 30 nm as for polymers
(Lee, 1994; Watson and Yu, 1997). Hence, too large size decreases
the specic surface area relatively, leading to the decrease of the
electric eld force, which is the main separation power of the pro-
cess. Besides, with the increase of the particle size, the electric eld
strength needed for electrostatic deection of the particles in-
creases exponentially (Dodbiba et al., 2005). Dodbiba et al. studied
the effect of particle size inuencing the effectiveness of triboelec-
tric separator. Considering the forces acting on a charged particle
of spherical shape, it is proposed that the relationship of particle
size (D), electric eld strength (E), the magnitude of the surface po-
tential (V
s
), and the density (q
s
) can be described as the following
inequality (Dodbiba et al., 2002):
D 2:79 10
4
ErV
s
=kq
s

1=3
1
where coefcient k, found experimentally, is dimensionless and laid
between 1 and 1.8. So it can be concluded that the particle size for
triboelectrostatic separation has a maximum limit.
On the other hand, small size is also not favorable, since it will
cost more energy in the milling step, cause the increase of the col-
lision between the same kind of plastic particles and lead to the de-
crease of the separation efciency. Small particle size may also
bring out some problems such as adhesion on the wall of the char-
ger, blocking and the decrease of recovery. Particle size is undoubt-
edly an important factor that inuences the nal efciency of the
separation. As plastic waste is usually in various sizes when it is
collected, in order to control the particle size for the next opera-
tion, crushing and screening are denitely essential.
The materials may get charged in the crushing and screening
step, which would probably impede the charging efciency and
inuence the purity and recovery of the whole process. For the re-
search purpose as well as high reproducibility, neutralization of the
particles is needed. The charge accumulated in this step can be
neutralized by means of ionized air produced by a discharger (Park
et al., 2008a).
Washing and drying is also useful for discharging the plastic
particles. Since surface work function would increase with surface
contamination and oxidation, it is really important to keep the sur-
face of particles clean in triboelectrostatic separation (Trigwell
et al., 2003). Washing and drying is also applicable for minimiza-
tion of contamination on the particle surface, which benets the
reproducibility of tribocharging efciency (Lee and Shin, 2002).
3.2. Charging
After the crushing and screening step, plastic waste is supposed
to be in a suitable range of particle size for the charging purpose.
Rub can be used to increase the charge transfer between the
granular plastics to several orders of magnitude greater than in a
simple touching contact (Taylor and Secker, 1994). Some research-
ers provide the supporting evidence that charge transfer increased
with rubbing pressure (Haenen, 1976). Because the plastics are
insulators, the electric charge will be accumulated with repeated
rubbing. For aggregating the rubbing pressure and frequency,
numerous devices have been investigated in recent years for plas-
tic particle charging in the triboelectrostatic separation. According
to charging mechanism, these devices are classied to be solid
single phase or gassolid two-phase. The solid single phase
charging mechanism means the interactions only exist among
solid particles during the charging process. While the gassolid
two-phase charging mechanism use the interactions between
gas and solid to charge the mixed solid particles. The devices of so-
lid single phase contain rotating tube (Inculet et al., 1998), rotary
blades (Matsushita et al., 1999) and vibrating devices (Blajan
et al., 2010; Higashiyama et al., 1997; Lungu, 2004). The gassolid
two-phase devices contain cyclone (Dodbiba et al., 2002; Yanar
and Kwetkus, 1995), uidized bed (Calin et al., 2008; Calin et al.,
2007; Dascalescu, 2011; Iuga et al., 2005), and propeller-type
tribocharger (Miloudi et al., 2011a).
3.2.1. Solid single phase tribocharging
Rotating tube has been used as a tribocharger for separating
plastic waste since 1990s (Inculet et al., 1994, 1998). In this char-
ger, plastic particles can be fed continuously through the tube
while it is rotating. The cylindrical tube rotates along an axis which
is inclined slightly to the horizontal. Thus the particles can pass
though the tube by the force of gravity. In order to create more stir-
ring for the mixture, in the tube there are ribs made of same mate-
rial as the tube itself. The ribs extend radially inwardly from the
wall of the tube (as shown in Fig. 4). Results show that degree of
mixing is much improved by the ribs (Inculet, 1994). Rotating tube
has shown the feasibility of getting PP/polystyrene (PS) and PP/
high density polyethylene (HDPE) particles effectively charged at
various relative humidities and normal ambient temperatures. Un-
like uidized bed or cyclone tribocharger whose process involves
substantial power to compress the uidization air, it has advanta-
ges for its mechanical simplicity and modest power requirements.
Continuous operation is also favorable for industrial populariza-
tion. However, its disadvantages should not be ignored. The parti-
cleparticle collision frequency is relatively low compared to
uidized bed or cyclone charger. As a consequence, the charging
efciency may be not enough for the plastics which are hard to
be charged. By adjusting the inclining angle or increasing the tube
length to increase the residence time, the charge magnitude can be
improved.
Similar to the rotating tube, rotary blades is also a kind of device
that can stir the plastic mixture and get them charged through
rotation. A friction mixer with rotary blades was used for separa-
tion of plastics in 1999 (Matsushita et al., 1999). The rotor is pro-
vided with rotary blades made of plastic material. As shown in
Fig. 5, transverse blades mounted at helical positions on a rotation
axis and an oblique blade. After the mixture of plastics enters the
mixer through a feed port it is continuously stirred until the lid
of the outlet port opens. The plastic pieces are charged by rubbing
against each other or against the outer cylinder and the rotor dur-
ing this process. Rotary blades can be operated in an intensive
speed, since it is an enclosing chamber. As it is not continuous,
Fig. 4. Rotating tube for plastic particle tribocharging.
G. Wu et al. / Waste Management 33 (2013) 585597 589
the residence time can be optimized and the particles can stay tur-
bulent until they get enough charge accumulated. The exact charg-
ing efciency is unknown, but purity and recovery of the separation
based on this charging result can be above 90%. However, in recent
several years, there is hardly report about this equipment.
Vibration has been validated to be an effective way for tribo-
charging of plastic granules (Laurentie et al., 2010). Thus vibrating
devices are also chosen as tribocharger in many researches. Hig-
ashiyama et al. have demonstrated a tribocharger utilizing a
vibrating feeder equipped with a charging plate. In order to in-
crease the contact area, on the plate there are several triangular
grooves, in which the particles move from one end toward the
other while contacting with both sides of the groove to be charged
(Higashiyama et al., 1997). Similar charging equipments which uti-
lized vibration effect have also been reported in some papers. Lun-
gu investigated a vibrating pot as a tribocharger for the charging of
PE and PS, which is vibrating on the vertical direction for a certain
time span (Lungu, 2004). Dascalescu et al. studied a vibratory de-
vice as chargers in the separation of disk-like polyamide particles.
An electromagnetic device commonly employed for sieving appli-
cations was used as the vibratory device, and a PP box was
amounted on the plate as the charger (Dascalescu et al., 2005).
The typical charging contour plots for acrylonitrile butadiene sty-
rene (ABS) and high impact polystyrene (HIPS) charging in Al vi-
brated zigzag-shaped square pipes can be observed in Fig. 6. It
can be concluded that vibrating equipments are also quite effective
for plastic particles charging.
3.2.2. Gassolid two-phase tribocharging
Fluidized bed is one of the most popular kinds of tribochargers
and was extensively studied in industrial applications, such as ne
coal preparation (Dwari and Hanumantha Rao, 2009) and polymer-
ization reactors (Rokkamet al., 2010). The air tumbling in the device
provides a great environment for the particleparticle or particle
wall collisions, which is the main mechanism of the tribocharging
in this kind of devices (Calin et al., 2008). As shown in Fig. 7, during
the process of uidized bed, air ow was introduced from the bot-
tom lter. The air turbulent is generated in the chamber and parti-
cles are conveyed upwards by the gas ow. During the process,
the trajectories of particles are affected by the forces of F
g
, F
r
and
F
a
(Fig. 7A), where F
g
is gravity, F
r
is air resistance and F
a
is air dy-
namic pressure. Because the value of F
a
changes randomly with air
turbulent, there are mainly three kinds of contacting (Fig. 7B): con-
tacting between different kinds particles, contacting between same
kind particles and contacting between particles and wall material.
Fluidized bed can be designed in different shapes. Fig. 8 demon-
strates a typical cylindrical uidized bed, which has an air input at
the bottom and a central pipe allowing the particles to ow
Fig. 5. Friction mixer with rotary blades (Matsushita et al., 1999).
Fig. 6. Contour plots of the charge/mass ratio of (a) ABS and (b) HIPS granular
samples as a function of the oscillation frequency n and the crank length R (Blajan
et al., 2010).
Fig. 7. Contacting model of granular waste plastics in uidized bed.
590 G. Wu et al. / Waste Management 33 (2013) 585597
through the pipe while retaining its acquired charge. This structure
has been utilized by several researches to separate mixed plastic
waste (Inculet et al., 1998; Lee and Shin, 2002). Fig. 9 shows an-
other form of uidized bed. It contains air distributors with differ-
ent mesh apertures correlated with particle size and a changeable
tribocharging chamber that be replaced according to the triboelec-
tric series of the feedstock. No matter what kind of layout the u-
idized bed is, the main purpose is to provide an environment that
particles can rub against each other and get enough charge for the
need of deection in the electric eld.
Propeller-type tribocharger for triboelectrostatic separation of
plastic waste has been developed in recent years. As shown in
Fig. 10a, at the lower end of a cylindrical chamber made of PVC,
there is a coaxial propeller. It can produce a helical air motion that
is supposed to facilitate the tribocharging by granule-to-propeller,
granule-to-cylinder wall, and granule-to-granule collisions. After a
certain residence time when the charge is considered to become en-
ough for the deection, the cylindrical chamber can pivot with re-
spect to a horizontal axis and the granules can be evacuated by
gravity into an appropriate collector, as shown in Fig. 10b. This oper-
ation can be performed with the propeller still in motion, so that to
facilitate the recovery of all the charged granules, which might
otherwise remain stuck to the walls of the cylinder. Propeller-type
charger has been used in the separating of polyamide (PA)/PC and
HIPS/ABS (Miloudi et al., 2011a; Miloudi et al., 2011b). The charging
efciency of propeller charger can be also shown in Fig. 11, it clearly
indicates that propeller is a good device for particle charging.
Cyclone is another common charger widely used in mineral sep-
aration processing. Similar to uidized bed, cyclone charger also
needs pressurized air ow to transport the particles into the char-
ger as well as create a turbulent ambience where the collisions
happen and the particles can get oppositely charged. As shown in
Fig. 12, the airow pushes the particles in and makes them spirally
move and rub against each other. This kind of device has been suc-
cessfully utilized for charging in the triboelectrostatic separation of
PE/PVC (Yanar and Kwetkus, 1995), PE/PET (Dodbiba et al., 2002),
ABS/PS/PP (Dodbiba et al., 2003b). The mechanisms of particle
charging in the cyclone are quite similar to those of a uidized
bed. Park et al. designed a device named uidized bed cyclone
tribocharger. It has been reported that through this kind of charger,
particles of cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE)/PVC (Park et al.,
2007a), PVC/PET (Park et al., 2007b) and PVC/PET/ABS (Park
et al., 2008a) can be tribocharged effectively, and separated suc-
cessfully in the subsequent electrostatic deection. The friction
force here is much higher than any other equipment, so the
Fig. 8. Typical cross-section of cylindrical uidized bed used for tribocharging
particles.
Fig. 9. Fluidized bed device for tribocharging of plastic granules (Iuga et al., 2005).
Fig. 10. Propeller-type device for the tribocharging of plastic granules (Miloudi et al., 2011a).
G. Wu et al. / Waste Management 33 (2013) 585597 591
charging efciency can be really high. The power requirements are
also higher than others. Since the particles tend to move close to
the wall, the abrasion of device is also a serious problem (Dodbiba
et al., 2002).
The comparison of different tribochargers is shown in Table 5,
demonstrating the main advantages and disadvantages of each de-
vice. There is no perfect device for tribocharging of plastic granules.
Solid single phase tribocharging devices are recommended for their
mechanical simplicity and relatively lowpower requirements. They
have been proved to be effective in some cases. However, their
degree of mixing or rubbing frequency cannot compete that of
gassolid two-phase tribocharging. Therefore, solid single phase
chargers are recommended when plastics do not need too much
power to get enough charge. All the gassolid two-phase tribo-
charging need extra power for air ow to maintain the extremely
turbulent environment for particle collision, but the rubbing fre-
quency in these devices can be very high. For the plastics difcult
to be charged, gassolid two-phase tribocharging is more efcient.
It is also suitable for magnifying the charge difference between
plastics with slight difference in triboelectric charging property.
3.3. Electrostatic deection
Tribocharged mixed plastic particles are commonly fed into an
electric eld separator and deect to high voltage static electrodes
according the Coulomb forces acting on them. The conguration of
electric eld plays an important role in the separation process. De-
signs utilized in the triboelectrostatic separation of plastic waste
can be roughly divided into three types: free-fall electric eld,
roll-type electric eld and vertical electric eld for up-ow uid-
ized particles.
3.3.1. Free-fall electric eld
Free-fall electric eld is the most widely used in triboelectrostat-
ic separation process. When charged plastic particles enter the elec-
tric eld, affected by electric eld force, gravity and air resistance,
they will deect to the electrodes according to their polarities.
The particle position at the bottomis inuenced by the particle size,
mass, surface charge, electric eld strength, and some aerodynam-
ics parameters. For specic feedstock, the particle size and mass is
determined, and the separation efciency is more likely to be inu-
enced by the surface charge and electric eld strength. High electric
eld strength guarantees enough electric eld force for deection.
However, high eld intensity strongly attracts the particles to the
electrodes and causes impacts which would get the particles oppo-
sitely charged and deect to the opposite electrode thus impede the
purities of separation products (as shown in Fig. 13). Inclined elec-
trodes and screen mesh type electrodes are often utilized in some
cases to mitigate the impact effect. Free-fall separation system also
suffers from restrictions. It is lack of controllability of gravitational
force, which is stronger than the Coulomb forces for particles of big
Fig. 11. Electric eld (2 cm above) at the surface of ABS and HIPS granular layers
(Miloudi et al., 2011a).
Fig. 12. Cyclone tribocharger (Dodbiba et al., 2002).
Table 5
Comparison between different tribochargers.
Charger type Successful examples Experimental
particle size
Advantages Disadvantages
Solid single phase
Rotating tube HDPE & PP; PP & PS Inculet et al. (1994) 25 mm Mechanical simplicity and low power
requirements. It can be operated continuously.
Low rubbing frequency.
Rotary blades PS, PE, PP, PET Matsushita et al. (1999) 4 mm Intensive collision. High rotating speed will make the
particles adhere to the wall.
Vibrating
devices
ABS & HIPS Blajan et al. (2010) 0.255 mm Mechanical simplicity and low power
requirements.
Low rubbing frequency between
particles.
Gassolid two phases
Fluidized-bed PMMA, PS, PE Calin et al. (2007) 25 mm High collision frequency. Continuous operation. High power requirements.
PET & PVC Iuga et al. (2005) 24 mm
Cyclone PE & PVC Yanar and Kwetkus (1995); PET
& PE Dodbiba et al. (2002)
150 lm;
13.5 mm
High frictional speed. High power requirements and
severe abrasion.
Propeller-type
charger
ABS & HIPS Miloudi et al. (2011a) 12 mm Relatively low abrasion and low adhesion. Not continuous, slightly high power
requirements.
592 G. Wu et al. / Waste Management 33 (2013) 585597
size and impedes the separation efciency. Although free-fall sepa-
ration system has advantages such as mechanical simplicity and
modest power requirements, it cannot compete other kinds of elec-
tric eld when separation efciency taking to consideration.
3.3.2. Roll-type electric eld
Typical schematic representation of roll-type electric eld is
shown in Fig. 14. Roll-type triboelectrostatic separation method
has been proven to be more appropriate in sorting of coarse plastic
granules (size >2 mm) than free-fall separation system (Tilmatine
et al., 2010), especially for particles of poor tribocharging. The cen-
trifugal force positively associates with the electric eld force to
detach the positively charged particles from the roll, while the neg-
atively charged particles adhere to the roll electrode until they are
swept down by the brush (as shown in Fig. 14). To improve the
purity of the product, the particles are required to be monolayer
on the roll, so a belt conveyor and a vibrating feeder are needed
in some cases (Miloudi et al., 2011b).
The two separationsystems discussedabove usually have collect-
ing bins or trays (collectors) at the bottom of them. When particles
get through the electric eld, they deect in different trajectories
and fall into their different target collectors (as shown in Figs. 13
and 14). Since the absolute values of horizontal shifts of both kinds
of particles are usually not the same, the collectors are not symmet-
rical in some designs. Sometimes there is an extra collector in the
middle for collecting the middling, which should get a secondary
separation. The conguration of collectors is also a parameter that
would inuence the recovery as well as the purity of product.
Both free-fall and roll-type electric eld suffer from the poor
predictability of the outcome of tribocharging. An optimal voltage
of electrodes should be optimized according to the charging ef-
ciency of the particles time after time, as a low voltage may be
not enough to attract the charged particles while a high voltage
may make the particles impact the electrodes and rebound into
the wrong collectors.
3.3.3. Fluidized bed triboelectrostatic separator
An orthogonal physical eld with electric eld and uidized bed
has been designed as a type of triboelectrostatic separator to solve
the rebounding problem (Dascalescu, 2011; Dragan et al., 2010).
This is a device where charging and deection happen at the same
time. As shown in Fig. 15, air owgets into the device fromthe bot-
tom, and the particles maintain in uidized state until they get ex-
actly enough charge to be attracted to the electrodes. The particles
which do not accumulate enough charge will fall back to the uid
bed chamber to get more charge thus the electrode rebounding ef-
fect would not be a problem. The particles adhering to the elec-
trodes can be either aspirated away or transported away by a
belt conveyor. Experiments have shown its superiority in separat-
ing plastic mixtures. However, the restrictions it suffers from can
neither be ignored. As one sort of particles in the mixture may be
charged and collected faster than the others, the composition of
the mixture in the uidized bed may vary in time. The composition
of the mixture has been proved to have a great inuence on the
outcome of the tribocharging process, thus it may impose con-
straints to the integration of this separation system in a continuous
industrial process (Dragan et al., 2010).
4. Impact factors for triboelectrostatic separation
The effectiveness of particle charging has a great inuence on
the output of any electrostatic separation process (Calin et al.,
2008). It is important to optimize the factors that inuence the ef-
ciency of tribochargers.
4.1. Materials of the tribocharger
The material from which the tribocharger is made can be an
important factor inuences the efciency of the tribocharging pro-
cess. As discussed above, the tribocharging of plastics is an extre-
mely complex phenomenon. For most chargers, there are mainly
three mechanisms mainly inuence the net charge accumulated
by particles of a binary plastics mixture: particlewall collisions,
collisions between particles of different material, and collisions be-
tween particles of the same material (Calin et al., 2008; Inculet
et al., 1994; Iuga et al., 2005). The polarity and magnitude of the
charge accumulated on the surface of the particles are inuenced
by the combined action of all these three mechanisms, and most
of the charge comes from the collisions between particles of differ-
ent material. The most expected result is that one kind of the par-
ticles gets all positively charged and the other gets all negatively
charged. Therefore, the material of the charger chamber is more
preferred to have a work function laid in the middle of the
Fig. 13. Free-fall separation system.
Fig. 14. Roll-type triboelectrostatic separator: (1) Vibratory feeder, (2) Grounded
rotating roll electrode, (3) HV static electrode, (4) Brush, and (5) Collecting
compartments (Tilmatine et al., 2010).
G. Wu et al. / Waste Management 33 (2013) 585597 593
triboelectric series between the two plastics to be separated, thus
the particlewall collisions will not change the expected polarity
of any charging particle (Iuga et al., 2005). Considering the tribo-
electric series, Park et al. utilized PP cyclone charger to remove
PVC from PET and ABS, and then used HIPS cyclone to get ABS
and PET charged with opposite polarities, separating PVC, PET
and ABS successfully (Park et al., 2008a). On the other hand, the
difference in charge density between the particles varies from
charger to charger. Choosing a material of charger that can make
the highest difference in charge density of the plastics should also
be taken into consideration (Park et al., 2007a). As such, plastics in
the middle of triboelectric series are usually used as the material of
charger in the most investigations.
However, the charging process will increase roughness of the
inner wall of the charger (Dodbiba et al., 2002). Considering the
wear resistance to particlewall collisions and friction, metal
materials for the charging chamber are more preferred. On the
other hand, the metal materials can help to carry the charge on
the wall to ground, avoiding an accumulation of the charge on
the charger surface, so that the amount of the charge acquired by
the plastic particles can be increased (Higashiyama et al., 1997).
The charger can be made from the same material as some of the
particles in the mixture being processed through the charger.
Therefore, making the charger from the minority material in the
mixture can serve to bring up the level of the charge at which
the majority material emerges from the charger to the magnitude
of the charge induced in the minority material (Inculet, 1994).
4.2. Residence time
Residence time in the charger is also a parameter that deter-
mines the nal charge of the particles as well as the recovery of
the whole process. In most tribocharger, the magnitude of the ac-
quired charge is a non-linear function of the residence time. The
charge increases with the increase of residence time and becomes
saturated at longer values of it (Dascalescu et al., 2005). However,
the residence time is not necessary to be long enough for the charge
saturation since there are also problems for longer residence time.
When the residence time gets long enough and charge becomes sat-
urated through the particleparticle collisions, the particlewall
collisions will continue happening and some particles may get
charged opposite to the original polarity, thus the recovery and pur-
ity of the product will decrease (Matsushita et al., 1999). Besides,
the longer the residence time is, the larger the mass of material ad-
here to the inner wall of charger is, which may decrease the recov-
ery (Dodbiba et al., 2005). After all, the residence time is aim at
getting enough charge for the deection. Over charged or inade-
quately charged particles are not favorable. Therefore, a proper res-
idence time should be optimized according to different conditions.
4.3. Mechanical factors
Parameters in different chargers such as air velocity, rotating
speed and vibrating frequency also inuence the frequency of the
collisions and the degree of mixing. Usually, the degree of mixing
can be improved with the increase of these factors, which benets
the particleparticle collisions and improve the magnitude of
charge accumulated. However, the frequency of particle-charger
collisions is also improved at the setting of higher air velocity or
rotating speed. The total charge depends on the balance between
these two physical mechanisms. Therefore, depending on the con-
guration of the tribocharging device, the increase of air velocity
does not necessarily leads to higher levels of charge (Dragan
et al., 2010). On the other hand, it needs more power to maintain
higher air velocity or rotating speed. So these operational parame-
ters should be optimized according to different plastic mixtures
and different chargers.
4.4. Variable ambient conditions
The relative humidity of the ambient in the charger has been
proven to be an important factor that can signicantly affect the
magnitude of charge that the plastic particles can get. Most pub-
lished works indicate that the polarity of charge does not change
but the magnitude of charge decreases with the increase of the rel-
ative humidity. Nmeth et al. believed that the charging and
Fig. 15. Fluidized bed-type triboelectrostatic separator.
594 G. Wu et al. / Waste Management 33 (2013) 585597
discharging behavior of plastics could be explained by the forma-
tion of water lms onto plastic surface (Nmeth et al., 2003). Some
plastics such as PA, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and POM
have been proven to have a high ability to take up water. A high
value of atmospheric humidity offers a high number of water mol-
ecules that can be introduced into these polymers and form water-
containing swollen layers, which can introduce more ions in the
systems and decrease the surface resistivity. Therefore, more leak-
age causes and charge cannot be accumulated with the increasing
relative humidity (Greason, 2000). Some literatures also indicate
that higher humidity would impede the effectiveness of charging,
as well as the output of the separation process.
In summary, charger material with a medium work function,
proper residence time, relatively high degree of mixing and low
humidity would increase the effectiveness of plastic particle
charging.
5. Numerical study on the triboelectrostatic separation of
plastic waste
Numerical simulation and modeling can be quite effective in
design and optimization of new processes or devices. Some differ-
ent modeling approaches have been proposed to simulate the
triboelectrostatic separation process or optimize it.
By proposing reasonable assumptions, particle trajectory in the
electric eld can be simulated and the recovery can be estimated.
Ha et al. studied the separation of PVC from mixed plastics, and
computed the trajectories of PVC particles under different condi-
tions. The particle trajectories are obtained using a Lagrangian
method as a function of different important variables such as Rey-
nolds number. Stokes number, electrostatic force, electric charge
and electric eld distribution, inclined angle of plane electrodes,
particle rebounding, particle charge decay rate after impact on
the electrode surface, etc., in order to determine the optimal design
conditions. The present predicted results for the cumulative yield
represent well the experimental ones (Ha et al., 2003). Unlike the
complicated computation of the former work, a unied modeling
approach has been presented by Wei and Realff. It contains three
steps: (1) modeling the trajectory, (2) modeling the recovery, and
(3) empirical partition curve tting (Wei and Realff, 2005b).
According to this approach, they studied the design and optimiza-
tion of free-fall separators (Wei and Realff, 2003) as well as roll-
type (drum-type) separators (Wei and Realff, 2005a). Simplifying
the simulation by neglecting the particleparticle interactions in
the electric eld, air drag force, interparticle collisions and the
rebounding effect, trajectories of plastic particles of different de-
signs can be computed easily. To optimize the free-fall separators,
the objective function is set as the maximization of the total prot,
which is the revenue from selling recycled products minus the an-
nual unit capital cost. Since the revenue is proportional to the
recoveries and the capital cost is a function of plate area and the
voltage, the prot of different designs can be calculated straight
forwardly (Wei and Realff, 2003). The simulation of particle trajec-
tory in the electric eld cannot only provide a prediction of the
separation efciency of existing equipment but also compare the
separation efciency devices of different designs and different
operating conditions. For example, a second stage was found to
be preferable only at high feed ow rate and product prices be-
cause the additional revenue is enough to cover the additional cost
(Wei and Realff, 2003, 2005a).
Modeling based on the experimental results usually can have a
relatively high tness. Quadric polynomial regression of limited
experimental results is usually used to describe the triboelectro-
static separation process. The common model can be expressed
as the following quadric equation:
Y a
0

X
n
i1
a
i
x
i

X
n
i1
X
n
j1
a
ij
u
i
u
j
2
where y is the response of the process (it can be the charging ef-
ciency or the recovery of the separation); a
0
, a
i
and a
ij
are the model
parameters (so-called regression coefcients) needed to be deter-
mined, which will indicate how the factors inuence the response;
n is the total number of factors and x
i
is the normalized centered va-
lue for each factor u
i
:
x
i
u
i
u
ic
=Du
i
u

i
3
u
ic
u
imax
u
imin
=2 4
Du
i
u
imax
u
imin
=2 5
Eqs. (2)-(5) are so useful that several papers have presented
their works in the modeling of triboelectrostatic separation process
according to them. By choosing relevant factors and nishing lim-
ited designed experiments, some experimental data can be
achieved and the regression of Eq. (2) can be done. Blajan et al.,
2010 studied the triboelectrication of granular plastic waste in vi-
brated zigzag-shaped square pipes in view of electrostatic separa-
tion and build two models. The response Q/M representing the
charging efciency is inuenced by the crank length R

and the
oscillation frequency n

of the triboelectrication pipes. The recov-


ery of the separation is set as a function of R

, n

and the applied


voltage U. For example, the response function y (i.e. ABS recovery
from mixed plastics with HIPS using vibrated pipes) can be ex-
pressed as:
y 82:83 2:758n

2:998R

3:002U

1:648n

1:598n

2:348R

6
Similar modeling method has been applied in some other cases
too, such as the uidized-bed (Dascalescu, 2011) and propeller
type tribocharger (Miloudi et al., 2011a; Miloudi et al., 2011b).
The regression modeling can predict the outcome in a certain range
of impact factors and simplify the optimization.
Numerical study provides an effective way to design or opti-
mize a device. Trajectory simulation and quadric polynomial
regression are usually applied in the study of triboelectrostatic
separation of plastic waste. They can save the times of experiments
and predict the outcome effectively. For existing equipment, it may
be difcult to change the structure parameters of it such as the
length or the inclining angle of the electrodes. By numerical simu-
lation, it can be very convenient to change the parameters and pre-
dict the outcome to provide reference for the devices optimization.
6. Challenges and opportunities for improving triboelectrostatic
separation for granular plastic waste
Triboelectrostatic separation has been considered as one of the
most promising methods for plastic recycling, as it is much cheaper
and the separation efciency is much better than conventional sep-
aration methods. The bench scale experiments have presented a
bright future to utilize the technology for plastic recycling. How-
ever, there are also some challenges that it has to face before it be-
come continuous industrial process.
The charge efciency inuences the separation efciency signif-
icantly but it is extremely sensitive to the change of ambient
humidity. In most cases, low humidity benets the charging pro-
cess. However, it is not easy to control relative humidity below
20% in a plant for the limited capacity of the dehumidier (Park
et al., 2007a). Improving the controllability of relative humidity
or increasing the maximum tolerance of relative humidity of the
equipment would help the development of triboelectrostatic
separation.
G. Wu et al. / Waste Management 33 (2013) 585597 595
During the charging step, the study of mechanism of the parti-
cle collision still needs to be deeply researched. It will be helpful to
control the tribocharging efciency if some collision models in
microlevel can be built to give a better understanding of the charg-
ing behavior of plastic particles. Some numerical models for the
recovery of the separation have been presented and proved to be
helpful in optimization of the process. More numerical simulation
study will help the development of the technology.
Triboelectrostatic separation can be effective for separating bin-
ary mixture but it cannot process mixtures of three or more kinds
of plastic at one time. When plastic waste is collected, more than
three kinds of plastic may be mixed together, which make it dif-
cult to separate them by one-step triboelectrostatic separation.
Two-step triboelectrostatic separation can be a solution for sepa-
rating ternary mixture (Dodbiba et al., 2003b; Park et al., 2008a).
Combined with other mechanical separation methods such as den-
sity based separation, more complex mixtures can also be pro-
cessed (Dodbiba et al., 2005).
Since the materials may easily be contaminated or have oxida-
tion layers before the processing, which would inuence the sur-
face properties and the charging efciency, the reproducibility of
triboelectrostatic separation has long been a serious concern. For
tribocharging of plastic particles, minimization of contamination
and oxidation is indispensable in order to get a consistent and reli-
able charging efciency as well as separation efciency. From this
view, standardization of plastic waste collecting and pretreatment
before triboelectrostatic separation would be necessary, which has
not been intensively studied yet.
7. Conclusions
Recycling is most appropriate strategy for management of plas-
tic waste for both economical and environmental reasons. Mechan-
ical recycling is suitable for plastic recycling because of its low
degree of pollution generation and cost.
Triboelectrostatic separation is undoubtedly a promising pro-
cess for granular plastic waste because of its mechanical simplicity,
low cost, high separation efciency and ability to process a rela-
tively wide range of particle size than other separation systems.
In triboelectrostatic separation process, mixed plastic waste
usually need to be crushed into proper size, then get charged in a
tribocharger, be fed into the electric eld and collected in different
ways. Several different devices have been designed for triboelec-
trostatic separation and shown the feasibility to achieve high sep-
aration efciency through these systems. Impact factors and some
numerical modeling have been studied for the optimization for
triboelectrostatic separation. More research needs to be carried
out before triboelectrostatic separation can be widely and success-
fully applied in industry.
Acknowledgements
This project was supported in part by the National Natural Sci-
ence Foundation of China (51008192), Doctoral Fund of Ministry of
Education of China (20090073120041), Shanghai Natural Science
Foundation (10ZR1415900) and Open Project of Key Laboratory
of Solid Waste Treatment and Resource Recycle (09gk01). The
authors are grateful to the reviewers who help them improve the
paper by many pertinent comments and suggestions.
References
Ali, M.F., Siddiqui, M.N., 2005. Thermal and catalytic decomposition behavior of PVC
mixed plastic waste with petroleum residue. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrol. 74, 282289.
Al-Salem, S.M., Lettieri, P., Baeyens, J., 2009. Recycling and recovery routes of plastic
solid waste (PSW): a review. Waste Manage. 29, 26252643.
Anderson, J., 1994. A comparison of experimental data and model predictions for
tribocharging of two-component electrophotographic developers. J. Imag. Sci.
Technol. 38, 378382.
Arvanitoyannis, I.S., Bosnea, L.A., 2001. Recycling of polymeric materials used for
food packaging: current status and perspectives. Food Rev. Int. 17, 291346.
Astrup, T., Fruergaard, T., Christensen, T.H., 2009a. Recycling of plastic: accounting
of greenhouse gases and global warming contributions. Waste Manage. Res. 27,
763772.
Astrup, T., Mller, J., Fruergaard, T., 2009b. Incineration and co-combustion of
waste: accounting of greenhouse gases and global warming contributions.
Waste Manage. Res. 27, 789799.
Ban, H., Li, T.X., Hower, J.C., Schaefer, J.L., Stencel, J.M., 1997. Dry triboelectrostatic
beneciation of y ash. Fuel 76, 801805.
Blajan, M., Beleca, R., Iuga, A., Dascalescu, L., 2010. Triboelectrication of granular
plastic wastes in vibrated zigzag-shaped square pipes in view of electrostatic
separation. IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl. 46, 15581563.
Burat, F.I., Gney, A., Olgae Kangal, M., 2009. Selective separation of virgin and post-
consumer polymers (PET and PVC) by otation method. Waste Manage. 29,
18071813.
Calin, L., Mihalcioiu, A., Iuga, A., Dascalescu, L., 2007. Fluidized bed device for plastic
granules triboelectrication. Particul. Sci. Technol. 25, 205211.
Calin, L., Caliap, L., Neamtu, V., Morar, R., Iuga, A., Samuila, A., Dascalescu, L., 2008.
Tribocharging of granular plastic mixtures in view of electrostatic separation.
IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl. 44, 10451051.
Chen, X., Xi, F., Geng, Y., Fujita, T., 2011. The potential environmental gains from
recycling waste plastics: simulation of transferring recycling and recovery
technologies to Shenyang, China. Waste Manage. 31, 168179.
Chung, T.L., 2010. Distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and
polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/dibenzofurans in ash from different units
in a municipal solid waste incinerator. Waste Manage. Res. 28, 789.
Dascalescu, L., 2011. Factors that inuence the efciency of a uidized-bed-type
tribo-electrostatic separator for mixed granular plastics. J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 301,
012066.
Dascalescu, L., Urs, A., Bente, S., Huzau, M., Samuila, A., 2005. Charging of mm-size
insulating particles in vibratory devices. J. Electrostat. 63, 705710.
Diaz, A.F., Felix-Navarro, R.M., 2004. A semi-quantitative tribo-electric series for
polymeric materials: the inuence of chemical structure and properties. J.
Electrostat. 62, 277290.
Dodbiba, G., Shibayama, A., Miyazaki, T., Fujita, T., 2002. Electrostatic separation of
the shredded plastic mixtures using a tribo-cyclone. Mag. Electr. Separat. 11,
6392.
Dodbiba, G., Shibayama, A., Miyazaki, T., Fujita, T., 2003a. Separation performance of
PVC and PP plastic mixture using air table. Phys. Separat. Sci. Eng. 12, 7186.
Dodbiba, G., Shibayama, A., Miyazaki, T., Fujita, T., 2003b. Triboelectrostatic
separation of ABS, PS and PP plastic mixture. Mater. Trans. 44, 161166.
Dodbiba, G., Sadaki, J., Okaya, K., Shibayama, A., Fujita, T., 2005. The use of air tabling
and triboelectric separation for separating a mixture of three plastics. Miner.
Eng. 18, 13501360.
Dragan, C., Fati, O., Radu, M., Calin, L., Samuila, A., Dascalescu, L., 2010. Tribocharging
of Mixed Granular Plastics in a Fluidized-Bed Device, Houston, TX.
Duke, C., Fabish, T., 1978. Contact electrication of polymers: a quantitative model.
J. Appl. Phys. 49, 315321.
Dwari, R., Hanumantha Rao, K., 2009. Fine coal preparation using novel tribo-
electrostatic separator. Miner. Eng. 22, 119127.
EuPC, 2009. The sustainability of plastic products.
Fujita, T., Kamiya, Y., Shimizu, N., Tanaka, T., 1995. Basic study of polymer particles
separation using vibrating feeder and electrostatic high voltage generator. In:
Proceedings of 3rd International Symposium on East Asian Recycling
Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, pp. 155164.
Gent, M.R., Menendez, M., Torao, J., Isidro, D., Torno, S., 2009. Cylinder cyclone
(LARCODEMS) density media separation of plastic wastes. Waste Manage. 29,
18191827.
Gente, V., La Marca, F., Lucci, F., Massacci, P., 2003. Electrical separation of plastics
coming from special waste. Waste Manage. 23, 951958.
Gilpin, R.K., Wagel, D.J., Solch, J.G., 2005. Production, Distribution, and Fate of
Polychlorinated Dibenzo-p-Dioxins, Dibenzofurans, and Related
Organohalogens in the Environment, Dioxins and Health. John Wiley & Sons,
Inc., pp. 5587.
Greason, W.D., 2000. Investigation of a test methodology for triboelectrication. J.
Electrostat. 49, 245256.
Gutman, E., Hartmann, G., 1992. Triboelectric properties of two-component
developers for xerography. J. Imaging Sci. Technol. 36, 335349.
Ha, M., Jeon, C., Choi, D., Choi, H., 2003. A numerical study on the triboelectrostatic
separation of PVC materials from mixed plastics for waste plastic recycling. J.
Mech. Sci. Technol. 17, 14851495.
Haenen, H.T.M., 1976. Experimental investigation of the relationship between
generation and decay of charges on dielectrics. J. Electrostat. 2, 151173.
Harper, W., 1951. The Volta effect as a cause of static electrication. Proc. Roy. Soc.
Lond. Ser. A. Math. Phys. Sci. 205, 83103.
Hearn, G.L., Ballard, J.R., 2005. The use of electrostatic techniques for the
identication and sorting of waste packaging materials. Resources Conserv.
Recycl. 44, 9198.
Higashiyama, Y., Ujiie, Y., Asano, K., 1997. Triboelectrication of plastic particles on
a vibrating feeder laminated with a plastic lm. J. Electrostat. 42, 6368.
Hopewell, J., Dvorak, R., Kosior, E., 2009. Plastics recycling: challenges and
opportunities. Philos. Trans. Roy. Soc. B: Biol. Sci. 364, 21152126.
596 G. Wu et al. / Waste Management 33 (2013) 585597
Hou, S., Wu, J., Qin, Y., Xu, Z., 2010. Electrostatic separation for recycling waste
printed circuit board: a study on external factor and a robust design for
optimization. Environ. Sci. Technol. 44, 51775181.
Hu, X., Calo, J.M., 2006. Plastic particle separation via liquid-uidized bed
classication. AIChE J. 52, 13331342.
Huth-Fehre, T., Feldhoff, R., Kantimm, T., Quick, L., Winter, F., Cammann, K., Van Den
Broek, W., Wienke, D., Melssen, W., Buydens, L., 1995. NIR remote sensing and
articial neural networks for rapid identication of post consumer plastics. J.
Mol. Struct. 348, 143146.
Inculet, I.I., Castle, G.S.P., Brown, J.D., 1994. Tribo-electrication system for
electrostatic separation of plastics. In: Anon (Ed.). IEEE, Denver, CO., USA, pp.
13971399.
Inculet, I.I.L. (CA), Castle, G.S.P. (London, CA), Brown, James D. (London, CA), 1994.
Electrostatic Separation of Mixed Plastic Waste. The University of Western
Ontario (London, CA), United States.
Inculet, I.I., Castle, G.S.P., Brown, J.D., 1998. Electrostatic separation of plastics for
recycling. Particul. Sci. Technol. 16, 91100.
Iuga, A., Calin, L., Neamtu, V., Mihalcioiu, A., Dascalescu, L., 2005. Tribocharging of
plastics granulates in a uidized bed device. J. Electrostat. 63, 937942.
Jeon, H.S., Park, C.H., Cho, B.G., Park, J.K., 2009. Separation of PVC and rubber from
covering plastics in communication cable scrap by tribo-charging. Sep. Sci.
Technol. 44, 190202.
Kwetkus, B.A., 1998. Particle triboelectrication and its use in the electrostatic
separation process. Particul. Sci. Technol. 16, 5568.
Laurentie, J.C., Traor, P., Dragan, C., Dascalescu, L., 2010. Numerical Modeling of
Triboelectric Charging of Granular Materials in Vibrated Beds. Houston, TX.
Lea, W.R., 1996. Plastic incineration versus recycling: a comparison of energy and
landll cost savings. J. Hazard. Mater. 47, 295.
Lee, L.H., 1994. Dual mechanism for metalpolymer contact electrication. J.
Electrostat. 32, 129.
Lee, J.K., Shin, J.H., 2002. Triboelectrostatic separation of PVC materials from mixed
plastics for waste plastic recycling. Korean J. Chem. Eng. 19, 267272.
Li, T.X., Ban, H., Hower, J.C., Stencel, J.M., Saito, K., 1999. Dry triboelectrostatic
separation of mineral particles: a potential application in space exploration. J.
Electrostat. 47, 133142.
Li, C.T., Zhuang, H.K., Hsieh, L.T., Lee, W.J., Tsao, M.C., 2001. PAH emission from the
incineration of three plastic wastes. Environ. Int. 27, 6167.
Li, J., Lu, H., Guo, J., Xu, Z., Zhou, Y., 2007. Recycle technology for recovering
resources and products from waste printed circuit boards. Environ. Sci. Technol.
41, 19952000.
Lowell, J., Rose-Innes, A.C., 1980. Contact electrication. Adv. Phys. 29, 9471023.
Lungu, M., 2004. Electrical separation of plastic materials using the triboelectric
effect. Miner. Eng. 17, 6975.
Malcolm Richard, G., Mario, M., Javier, T., Susana, T., 2011. Optimization of the
recovery of plastics for recycling by density media separation cyclones.
Resources Conserv. Recycl. 55, 472482.
Matsusaka, S., Masuda, H., 2003. Electrostatics of particles. Adv. Powder Technol. 14,
143166.
Matsusaka, S., Maruyama, H., Matsuyama, T., Ghadiri, M., 2010. Triboelectric
charging of powders: a review. Chem. Eng. Sci. 65, 57815807.
Matsushita, Y., Mori, N., Sometani, T., 1999. Electrostatic separation of plastics by
friction mixer with rotary blades. Electr. Eng. Japan (English Transl. Denki
Gakkai Ronbunshi) 127, 3340.
Miloudi, M., Medles, K., Tilmatine, A., Brahami, M., Dascalescu, L., 2011a. Modeling
and optimization of a propeller-type tribocharger for granular materials. J.
Electrostat. 69, 631637.
Miloudi, M., Medles, K., Tilmatine, A., Brahami, M., Dascalescu, L., 2011b.
Optimisation of belt-type electrostatic separation of granular plastic mixtures
tribocharged in a propeller-type device. J. Phys: Conf. Ser. 301, 012067.
Mlgaard, C., 1995. Environmental impacts by disposal of plastic from municipal
solid waste. Resources Conserv. Recycl. 15, 5163.
Nmeth, E., Albrecht, V., Schubert, G., Simon, F., 2003. Polymer tribo-electric
charging: dependence on thermodynamic surface properties and relative
humidity. J. Electrostat. 58, 316.
Oehlmann, J., 2009. A critical analysis of the biological impacts of plasticizers on
wildlife. Philos. Trans. Roy. Soc. B: Biol. Sci. 364, 2047.
Outotec, 2008. <Available from: http://www.outotec.com/pages/
Page7043.aspx?epslanguage=EN>[accessed 20/4/2009].
Park, C.H., Jeon, H.S., Cho, B.G., Park, J.K., 2007a. Triboelectrostatic separation of
covering plastics in chopped waste electric wire. Polym. Eng. Sci. 47, 19751982.
Park, C.H., Jeon, H.S., Park, J.K., 2007b. PVC removal from mixed plastics by
triboelectrostatic separation. J. Hazard. Mater. 144, 470476.
Park, C.H., Jeon, H.S., Yu, H.S., Han, O.H., Park, J.K., 2008a. Application of electrostatic
separation to the recycling of plastic wastes: separation of PVC, PET and ABS.
Environ. Sci. Technol. 42, 249255.
Park, C.H., Park, J.K., Jeon, H.S., Chun, B.C., 2008b. Triboelectric series and charging
properties of plastics using the designed vertical-reciprocation charger. J.
Electrostat. 66, 578583.
Pearse, M.J., Hickey, T.J., 1978. The separation of mixed plastics using a dry,
triboelectric technique. Resource Recov. Conserv. 3, 179190.
PlasticsEurope, 2011. Plastics the facts 2011. Available from: <http://
www.plasticseurope.org/Document/plasticsthe-facts-2011.aspx?Page=
SEARCH&FolID=2>.
Rokkam, R.G., Fox, R.O., Muhle, M.E., 2010. Computational uid dynamics and
electrostatic modeling of polymerization uidized-bed reactors. Powder
Technol. 203, 109124.
Sadat-Shojai, M., Bakhshandeh, G.R., 2011. Recycling of PVC wastes. Polym. Degrad.
Stab. 96, 404415.
Saurenbach, F., Wollmann, D., Terris, B., Diaz, A., 1992. Force microscopy of ion-
containing polymer surfaces: morphology and charge structure. Langmuir 8,
11991203.
Scott, D., 1995. A two-colour near-infrared sensor for sorting recycled plastic waste.
Meas. Sci. Technol. 6, 156.
Shent, H., Pugh, R.J., Forssberg, E., 1999. A review of plastics waste recycling and the
otation of plastics. Resources Conserv. Recycl. 25, 85109.
Siddique, R., Khatib, J., Kaur, I., 2008. Use of recycled plastic in concrete: a review.
Waste Manage. 28, 18351852.
Simoneit, B.R.T., Medeiros, P.M., Didyk, B.M., 2005. Combustion products of plastics
as indicators for refuse burning in the atmosphere. Environ. Sci. Technol. 39,
69616970.
Stahl, I., Beier, P.M., 1996. Sorting of plastics using the electrostatic separation
process. Sortieren von kunststoffen mit hilfe des elektrostatischen
trennverfahrens 49, 4649.
Taylor, D.M., Secker, P.E., 1994. Industrial Electrostatics: Fundamentals and
Measurements. Research Studies Press, London.
Tilmatine, A., Medles, K., Younes, M., Bendaoud, A., Dascalescu, L., 2010. Roll-type
versus free-fall electrostatic separation of tribocharged plastic particles. IEEE
Trans. Ind. Appl. 46, 15641569.
Trigwell, S., Grable, N., Yurteri, C.U., Sharma, R., Mazumder, M.K., 2003. Effects of
surface properties on the tribocharging characteristics of polymer powder as
applied to industrial processes. IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl. 39, 7986.
USEPA, 1995. Characterization of municipal solid waste in the United States: 1995
Update.
USEPA, 2011. Municipal solid waste generation, recycling, and disposal in the
United States: facts and gures for 2010.
Watson, P.K., Yu, Z.Z., 1997. The contact electrication of polymers and the depth of
charge penetration. J. Electrostat. 4041, 6772.
Wei, J., Realff, M.J., 2003. Design and optimization of free-fall electrostatic
separators for plastics recycling. AIChE J. 49, 31383149.
Wei, J., Realff, M.J., 2005a. Design and optimization of drum-type electrostatic
separators for plastics recycling. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 44, 35033509.
Wei, J., Realff, M.J., 2005b. A unied probabilistic approach for modeling trajectory-
based separations. AIChE J. 51, 25072520.
Wey, M.Y., Yu, L.J., Jou, S.I., 1998. The inuence of heavy metals on the formation of
organics and HCl during incinerating of PVC-containing waste. J. Hazard. Mater.
60, 259270.
Yanar, D.K., Kwetkus, B.A., 1995. Electrostatic separation of polymer powders. J.
Electrostat. 35, 257266.
Yoshida, M., Ii, N., Shimosaka, A., Shirakawa, Y., Hidaka, J., 2006. Experimental and
theoretical approaches to charging behavior of polymer particles. Chem. Eng.
Sci. 61, 22392248.
G. Wu et al. / Waste Management 33 (2013) 585597 597

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen