Experimental analysis of the operation of a free-fall separator equipped with four rotating cylinders
Résumé
The Four-Cylinder Electrostatic Separator is a recent improvement of the 'standard' free-fall equipment. The new design, which prevents the disturbances induced by the impacts that might occur between the particles and the electrodes, has been adapted for applications involving the processing of micronized particles, which require the use of a specific rotating-blades-type tribocharging device and an appropriate electrode cleaning systems. The aim of the present work is to evaluate the effects several factors that to influence the performances of the new triboelectrostatic separator. The experiments were made on a binary mixture of Polyvinyl Chloride PVC and un-plasticized Polyvinyl Chloride UPVC. The control variables considered in this study were: the rotating speed of the central axis of the tribocharging device, the voltage applied to the electrodes of the separator and the distance between them. The results obtained were excellent.