IEEE Transactions On Industries Applications 2008 2
IEEE Transactions On Industries Applications 2008 2
IEEE Transactions On Industries Applications 2008 2
4, JULY/AUGUST 2008
Abstract—The purity and recovery of concentrates obtained in eling. The geometrical data of this separator were taken into
industrial free-fall electrostatic separators can be increased by account for computing the initial velocity ν0 of the particles en-
preventing the impacts between the particles and the electrodes. tering the electric field zone. Another important parameter of the
The aim of this paper is to analyze the possibility to control particle numerical model, which is the granule charge q, was attributed
trajectories in such separators by modifying the conditions of the value measured at the exit of the fluidized-bed tribocharger.
particle admission in the interelectrode space. The parametric The numerical simulations were performed for the two values
equations of a charged particle trajectory in the electric field of the feed input angle: α = 4◦ and α = 8◦ , considering poly-
between the electrodes of a free-fall separator served for writing ethylene therephtalate (PET) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) parti-
a numerical modeling program in MATLAB. The ten control cles of different sizes. A good agreement was found between the
factors of the free-fall electrostatic separation process were em- theoretical predictions and the results of the experiments carried
ployed as input variables of this program: particle charge and out with two binary mixtures: 50% PET/50% PVC and 10%
dimension, trajectory start point coordinates, feed input angle PET/90% PVC. Both the numerical modeling and the experimen-
and initial velocity, electrode length and inclination, interelectrode tal study demonstrated that the feed input angle α influences the
spacing, and applied high voltage. A custom-designed laboratory outcome of the electrostatic separation to a great extent.
free-fall electrostatic separator (length of the electrodes: 1000 mm;
standard interelectrode spacing: 300 mm; and nominal high volt- Index Terms—Electrostatic processes, numerical simulation,
age: 90 kV), provided with a fluidized-bed tribocharger, was particle trajectory, triboelectrostatic separator.
employed for validating the conclusions of the numerical mod-
I. I NTRODUCTION
Paper MSDAD-07-48, presented at the 2006 ESA/IEEE/IEJ/SFE Joint
Conference on Electrostatics, Berkeley, CA, June 20–23, and approved for
publication in the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS by the
Electrostatic Processes Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society.
A N INCREASING number of applications, most of them
in mineral processing [1]–[3] and recycling industries
[4], [5], make use of free-fall electrostatic separators to take
Manuscript submitted for review June 30, 2006 and released for publication advantage of their relatively larger throughput capacity as
October 30, 2007. Published July 23, 2008 (projected). The work of L. Calin
was supported in part by the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca and in part
compared with other types of installations (roll-type or plate-
by the University of Poitiers. type electrostatic separators). The tribocharging device and
L. Calin is with the High-Intensity Electric Fields Laboratory, Technical the electrode system are essential elements characterizing the
University of Cluj-Napoca, 40020 Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and also with the
Electronics and Electrostatics Research Unit, Laboratory of Automation and
triboelectrostatic free-fall separator. Several technical solu-
Industrial Informatics, University of Poitiers, University Institute of Technol- tions have been patented [6], [7] or described in the litera-
ogy, 16021 Angoulême, France (e-mail: [email protected]). ture [8]–[11].
A. Mihalcioiu was with the Electronics and Electrostatics Research Unit,
Laboratory of Automation and Industrial Informatics, University of Poitiers,
Industrial practice reveals the importance of the input feeder
University Institute of Technology, 16021 Angoulême, France, and was also in obtaining high purity and recovery concentrates [12]. This
with the High-Intensity Electric Fields Laboratory, Technical University of can be easily explained by the fact that the trajectory of a
Cluj-Napoca, 40020 Cluj-Napoca, Romania. He is now with the Department of charged particle in a free-fall electrostatic separator is influ-
Ecological Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi 441-
8580, Japan (e-mail: [email protected]). enced by the position in which the particle is introduced in
S. Das was with the Electronics and Electrostatics Research Unit, Lab- electrostatic field and the initial particle velocity [13].
oratory of Automation and Industrial Informatics, University of Poitiers, A delicate problem of the input feeder is the adjustment of
University Institute of Technology, 16021 Angoulême, France. He is now
with the General Electric Technology Center, Bangalore, India (e-mail: the input angle α (Fig. 1). When α = 0, the light particles with
[email protected]). the same mass but different positive charges describe distinct
V. Neamtu and A. Iuga are with the High-Intensity Electric Fields Lab- trajectories [Fig. 1(a)]. The normal trajectory of a positively
oratory, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, 40020 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
(e-mail: [email protected]). charged particle ends in the compartment of the collector
C. Dragan was with the Electronics and Electrostatics Research Unit, situated under the negative electrode.
Laboratory of Automation and Industrial Informatics, University of Poitiers, The higher positively charged particles hit the negative elec-
University Institute of Technology, 16021 Angoulême, France. He is now with
the Electrostatics of Dispersed Media Research Unit, Laboratory of Aerody- trode and are deviated as impurities in the collecting compart-
namic Studies, University of Poitiers, University Institute of Technology, 16021 ment located under the positive electrode or are retained by
Angoulême, France (e-mail: [email protected]). the image force on the negative electrode surface. If the angle
L. Dascalescu was with the Laboratory of Automation and Industrial In-
formatics, University of Poitiers, University Institute of Technology, 16021 α is appropriately chosen [Fig. 1(b)], the collisions with the
Angoulême, France. He is now with the Electrostatics of Dispersed Me- electrode can be avoided.
dia Research Unit, Laboratory of Aerodynamic Studies, University of This paper presents the numerical simulation and the ex-
Poitiers, University Institute of Technology, 16021 Angoulême, France (e-mail:
[email protected]). perimental study of charged-particle trajectories in a free-fall
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIA.2008.926690 electrostatic separator for different feed input angles.
ν (i+1) = ν i + ai ∆t (6)
1
ai+1 = F G + F E(i+1) + F A(i+1) . (7)
m
The trajectory parametric equations in Cartesian form, corre-
sponding to the vectorial equations (5)–(7), are as follows:
x(i+1) = xi + νix ∆t + 12 aix ∆t2 (8)
y(i+1) = yi + νiy ∆t + 12 aiy ∆t2 (9)
ν(i+1)x = νix + aix ∆t (10)
ν(i+1)y = νiy + aiy ∆t (11)
a(i+1)x = m1
−qE(i+1)x + FA(i+1)x (12)
a(i+1)y = m1
−mg + qE(i+1)y + FA(i+1)y (13)
where
Fig. 2. Forces acting on a charged particle in a free-fall electrostatic separator.
FA(i+1)x = 12 CD ρA ν(i+1)x
2
sign ν(i+1)x (14)
II. M ATHEMATICAL M ODEL OF P ARTICLE T RAJECTORIES FA(i+1)y = 12 CD ρA ν(i+1)y
2
sign ν(i+1)y . (15)
The motion of a charged particle in the electrostatic field E
of the free-fall separator (Fig. 2) takes place under the action In the start point of the trajectory (i = 0), the initial quanti-
of the gravitational force F G , electrical field force F E , and ties are as follows:
air frictional force (drag force) F A , according to the vectorial
equation r0 (x0 , y0 = 0)
ν 0 (ν0x = ν0 sin α, ν0y = −ν0 cos α) (16)
d2 F a0 (a0x = 0, a0y = −g).
m = FG + FE + FA (1)
dt2
Particle trajectory, as can be observed in (12), (13), and (16),
where m is the particle mass, and r is the position vector of depends on the electric field strength (Ex , Ey ), the particle
particle mass center. charge q, the particle mass m, the input position (x0 , y0 ), the
The magnitudes of the forces in (1) are given by the initial velocity ν0 , and the input angle α.
following: The parametric equations of trajectory (8) and (9) are dif-
FG = mg (2) ferential equations of second order that can be integrated by
an approximation method using MATLAB 7.0. The original
FE = qE (3)
1 program, written by authors, simulates the 2-D trajectory of a
FA = CD ρA Sν 2 (4) particle in free-fall separator.
2
1040 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 2008
TABLE I
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PLASTIC GRANULES
TABLE II
CHARGE ON PET AND PVC GRANULES (α = 0; 50% PET/50% PVC)
q = (Q/m)/N. (17)
IV. E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS
This procedure was repeated four times to find out the mini- A. Charge Measurements
mum, maximum, and average charges of PET particle.
To evaluate the PVC particle charge, the Faraday cage The results of the tribocharging process of the 50% PET/50%
was located under the positive electrode. Another set of four PVC mixture are given in Table II.
experiments was performed using the same procedure con-
sisting in tribocharging, electrostatic separation, and charge
B. Electrostatic Separation Experiments
measurement.
The second set and third sets of experiments were done with Table III contains the results of the set of experiments carried
the standard electrode configuration of the laboratory free-fall out with the 50% PCV/50% PET samples. The purities and
electrostatic separator (Fig. 5). Their aim was to evaluate the recoveries of both concentrates were better when α increased
efficiency of the electrostatic separation at various values of due to the diminishing number of elastic collision of PET
the feed input angle (α = 0◦ , 4◦ , and 8◦ ). A 400-mm-length di- particles with the negative electrode and to the barrier effect
electric splitter was located 30 mm on the left side of separator of the 400-mm splitter. This set of experiments pointed out the
symmetry axis in order to prevent that the PET particles that displacement of trajectories toward the positive electrode when
hit the negative electrode are deviated in the middling (M) or the angle α increased, an effect that will be observed also in nu-
the PVC concentrate. A second 200-mm splitter prevents the merical simulation. The best results were obtained for α = 8◦ .
jumps of particles between M and PVC compartments. The The results of the last group of experiments, shown in
other conditions were similar to those described for the first Table IV, revealed an increase of purity and recovery for both
set of experiments. Samples containing 50% PET and 50% concentrates obtained from the 10% PET/90% PVC, when the
PVC were employed in the second set of experiments, whereas input angle α varies from 0◦ to 8◦ .
1042 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 2008
Fig. 6. MATLAB-plotted trajectories of PET and PVC particles for minimum and maximum charges and two input angles. The trajectories corresponding to the
maximum charges are more deviated toward the electrodes due to stronger electrical forces.
The PET and PVC particles were approximated with equiv- [7] I. I. Inculet, G. S. P. Castle, and J. D. Brown, “Electrostatic separation of
alent spheres; the mass and equivalent diameter of which are mixed plastic waste,” U.S. Patent 5 289 922, Mar. 1, 1994.
[8] K. Haga, “Applications of the electrostatic separation technique,” in
given in Table I. The minimum and maximum charges of a type Handbook of Electrostatic Processes, J. S. Chang, A. J. Kelly, and
of particles were chosen as the extreme values in the series J. M. Crowly, Eds. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1995, pp. 365–386.
of four tests (Table II). The other input data were the drag [9] B. A. Kwetkus, “Particle triboelectrification and its use in the electrostatic
separation process,” Part. Sci. Technol., vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 55–67, 1998.
coefficient (CD = 0.4), the air density (ρA = 1.22 kg/m3 ), the [10] I. I. Inculet, G. Castle, and J. D. Brown, “Electrostatic separation of
coordinates of the starting point (x0 = 0.05 m; y0 = 0), and the plastics for recycling,” Part. Sci. Technol., vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 91–100,
initial velocity (ν0 = 2.4 m/s). 1998.
[11] Y. Higashiyama, Y. Ujiie, and K. Asano, “Triboelectrification of plastic
The results of the numerical simulations can be examined particles on vibrating feeder laminated with a plastic film,” J. Electrostat.,
in Fig. 6. The most affected by the electrostatic field were vol. 42, no. 1/2, pp. 63–68, Oct. 1997.
the trajectories of the PET particles carrying the maximum [12] A. I. Anghelov and I. N. Nabiulin, “Elektrostaticeskie separatory
svobodnogo padenija,” in Free-Fall Electrostatic Separators. Moscow,
charge because of the higher ratio between the electrical and Russia: Nedra, 1970.
gravitational forces FE max /FG . An increase of input angle [13] J. Wei and M. J. Realff, “Design and optimization of free-fall electrostatic
from α = 4◦ to α = 8◦ rotates the assembly of the trajectories separators for plastic recycling,” Amer. Inst. Chem. Eng. J., vol. 49, no. 12,
pp. 3138–3149, 2003.
toward the positive electrode, so that the trajectory of the PET [14] A. Iuga, L. Calin, V. Neamtu, A. Mihalcioiu, and L. Dascalescu, “Tri-
particle with minimum charge has no contact with the negative bocharging of plastic granulates in a fluidized bed device,” J. Electrostat.,
electrode. vol. 63, no. 6–10, pp. 937–942, Jun. 2005.
[15] L. Calin, L. Caliap, V. Neamtu, R. Morar, A. Iuga, A. Samuila, and
L. Dascalescu, “Tribocharging of granular plastic mixtures in view
of electrostatic separation,” in Conf. Rec. IEEE IAS Annu. Meeting,
VI. C ONCLUSION Hong Kong, Oct. 2005, vol. 2, pp. 1435–1441.
The efficiency of free-fall triboelectrostatic separators de-
pends not only on the charge acquired by the particles in
the tribocharging device and the strength of the electrostatic
field between the electrodes but also on the position and the
configuration of the input feeder. The ideal separation of a
binary mixture implies control of these three groups of factors
for obtaining two distinct sets of particle trajectories.
An original simulating program of the particle trajectory in Laur Calin received the M.S. and Advanced
Studies degrees in electronics and telecommunica-
free-fall triboelectrostatic separator enabled the plot of particle tions engineering from the Technical University of
trajectories by taking into consideration more than ten control Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 1997 and
variables. Numerical simulation and the experimental study of 1998, respectively. In 2008, he received the Ph.D.
degree in electrical engineering with a thesis on
separation trajectories for two types of particles tribocharged in the particle tribocharging phenomena in electrostatic
a fluidized-bed device pointed out the importance of field input separation processes. His thesis was jointly spon-
angle α to improve the separation efficiency. sored by the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
and the University of Poitiers, France.
Both the experimental data and the computed results prove His main interests are triboelectrostatic effects,
that the adjustment of the feed input angle may contribute corona charging of particulates, and optimization of electrostatic separation
significantly to a successful separation of a binary mixture of processes.
granular materials characterized by different particle masses
or/and mixture ratios.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank students D. Moldovan and
R. Beluga for their kind help in the experiments and graphics. Adrian Mihalcioiu (S’04–M’06) received the M.S.
degree in electrical engineering from the Technical
R EFERENCES University of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania,
in 2002, the Ph.D. degree from the University of
[1] The T-STAT Free-Fall Electrostatic Separator. [Online]. Available: Poitiers, Poitiers, France, in 2005, and the Dr. Eng.
http://www.otokumputechnology.com degree (magna cum laude) from the Technical
[2] A. Singular and G. Fricke, “Die electrostatishe Aufbereitung von Kali- University of Cluj-Napoca, in December 2005. His
Rohsalzen (Electrostatic processing of raw potash salt),” Chem. Ing. Tech., graduate research work was carried out at the Elec-
vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 39–45, Jan. 1983. tronics and Electrostatics Research Unit, University
[3] K. B. Tennal, M. K. Mazumder, D. Lindquist, J. Zhang, and F. Tendeku, Institute of Technology, Angoulême, France, within
“Triboelectric separation of granular materials,” in Conf. Rec. IEEE IAS the framework of the ERASMUS Student Mobility
Annu. Meeting, Oct. 1997, vol. 3, pp. 1724–1729. Programme, financed by the European Community. His Ph.D. research work
[4] The V-STAT Electrostatic Separator for Plastic, Carpco Inc., Jacksonville, was jointly sponsored by the University of Poitiers and the Technical University
FL, Prod. Bull., 1997. of Cluj-Napoca. His dissertation research involved the development of mea-
[5] L. Dascalescu, “Electrostatic separation of plastic from industrial wastes. surement techniques and virtual instrumentation for the study and control of
A review,” J. Electrostat. Jpn., vol. 25, pp. 282–288, 2001. electrostatic processes.
[6] R. Kohnlechner and L. Dascalescu, “New applications for standard elec- He was with the University of Osaka, Japan, as a Postdoctoral Fellow. He
trostatic separators,” in Conf. Rec. IEEE IAS Annu. Meeting, Hong Kong, currently holds a Postdoctoral Position with the Department of Ecological
Oct. 2005, vol. 4, pp. 2569–2572. Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi, Japan.
1044 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 2008
Subhankar Das (S’05) received the B.E. degree in Lucian Dascalescu (M’93–SM’95) received the
electrical engineering (with first-class honors) from M.S. degree (Hons.) in electrical engineering from
the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, College of the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-
Engineering and Management, Kolaghat, India, in Napoca, Romania, in 1978, the Dr. Eng. degree in
2002, the M.Sc. (Eng.) degree in electrical engineer- electrotechnical materials from the Polytechnic Insti-
ing from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, tute of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania, in 1991, and
India, in 2004, and the Ph.D. degree, benefiting the Dr. Sci. degree and the “Habilitation à Diriger de
from a scholarship jointly sponsored by the French Recherches” diploma both in physics from the Uni-
Government and industry, from the University of versity “Joseph Fourier,” Grenoble Cedex, France, in
Poitiers, Poitiers, France, in November 2007, with a 1994 and 1996, respectively.
dissertation focused on electrostatic separation. From 1978 to 1982, he was with the Combinatul
From September 2005 to July 2006, he was associated with a major project de Utilaj Greu [CUG (Heavy Equipment Works)], Cluj-Napoca. In 1983, he
in the R&D Department of Hamos GmbH, Penzberg, Germany. Since January joined the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, where he was initially an
2008, he has been with the General Electric Technology Center, Bangalore. Assistant Professor, and then, became an Associate Professor of electrical
His current research interests include electrical discharge and electrostatics engineering. From October 1991 to June 1992, he was with the Laboratory
applications, field computation, fine-particle charging, and nonthermal plasma of Electrostatics and Dielectric Materials (LEMD), Grenoble, France, as a
processes. Research Fellow. He was an Invited Research Associate and a Lecturer at
Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi, Japan, and also a Visiting
Scientist at the University of Poitiers, Poitiers, France. From 1994 to 1997,
he was with the University Institute of Technology, Grenoble, where he taught
electromechanical conversion of energy. In September 1997, he was appointed
as a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Automated Systems, and the Head
of the Electronics and Electrostatics Research Unit at the University Institute
Vasile Neamtu received the M.S. degree in electrical of Technology, Angoulême, France. From 1999 to 2003, he was the Head of
engineering and the Dr. Eng. degree in electrical the Department of Management and Engineering of Manufacturing Systems.
technologies from the Technical University of Cluj- Currently, he is the Head of the Electrostatics of Dispersed Media Research
Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 1975 and 2000, Unit, which is part of the Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) Group, Laboratory
respectively. of Aerodynamic Studies, University of Poitiers. He is the author of several
After six years spent in industry, as a Research and textbooks in the field of electrical engineering and ionized gases. He holds
Development Engineer, he moved to the Technical 14 patents and has authored or coauthored more than 80 journal papers, and
University of Cluj-Napoca, first as Teaching Assis- was invited to lecture on the electrostatics of granular materials at various
tant, then a Lecturer and an Associate Professor. universities and international conferences.
Since 2007, he has been a Professor with the Elec- Prof. Dascalescu is a Senior Member of the IEEE Industry Applications
trical Engineering Department. He has coauthored Society (IAS) and the Chair of the Electrostatics Processes Committee. He is
more than 20 papers, most of them related to the design of the electrodes and a member of the Electrostatics Society of America, the Electrostatics Society
the high-voltage supplies of electrostatic separators of granular mixtures, with of Romania, the Société des Electriciens et Electroniciens (SEE), and the Club
applications in the field of mineral processing and recycling industry. Electrotechnique, Electronique, Automatique (EEA), France.