(70by) Experimental Study of Electrostatic Separation of Different Component Particles in Mixture Using a Rotating Conical Vessel

The goal of this study was to develop a simple electrostatic separator for binary mixture by using a simultaneous effect of electrification and axial segregation of each component particle in a mixture during their cascading flow in a horizontal rotating conical vessel. The discharge rates of particles through orifices in each end-wall of the conical vessel rotated at 40 rpm were measured under a batch condition. Such experimental materials as polypropylene (PP(p)), polystyrene (PS(p)) and glass (GB(p)) were used as particles, and PMMA (AR(w)), stainless steel (SS(w)) and polypropylene (PP(w)) being used as the end-walls of the conical vessel. Discharge rates of each component particles de-pended on the environment humidity, the electrostatic characteristics (e.g., plus or minus charging) of particles and walls, the combination of two components in the mixture, and the axial segregation characteristics of particles in the vessel. In the case of using PP(p) and PS(p) component mixture and PP(w)/AR(w) walls at wide/narrow-ends, for example, PP(p) particles which were negatively (-) charged and segregated toward the narrow-end of the vessel preceded PS(p) ones positively (+) charged though both components were discharged from the orifice at the narrow-end wall made of AR(w) positively (+) charged. A comparatively high Newton's separation efficiency was obtained in this case.