Increasing the Recovery Rate of Metals from WEEE by Corona-electrostatic Separation

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to show the possibility of using electrostatic technologies for the recovery of non-ferrous metals from the non-conductive fraction obtained in the recycling process of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Prior to electrostatic separation, the material undergoes in-situ operations such as size reduction and dust and light component removal. Two granular mixtures of the same material are obtained, a coarse fraction (3.15-6) mm that contains metals, plastics and doesn’t contain any glass and a fine fraction (0-3.15) mm containing metals, plastics and a significant amount of glass. The granular mixtures are then separated using a laboratory version of a conventional roll-type corona-electrostatic separator with an extended charging zone. The virtually pure conductive fraction recovered from the mixtures makes up 4.34% of the initial material and is composed of mainly copper and brass $(\gt70$%), along with nickel, zinc, tin, and lead in lower quantities.