Separation of covering plastics from particulate copper in cable wastes by induction electrostatic separation

A plate-type induction-electrostatic separator unit has been designed and assembled to study the removal of particulate copper from cable scrap which contains plastics for recycling. From test results, a copper rejection of 99.95% and plastics recovery of 98.8% could be successfully achieved under conditions of over an 437.5 V/cm electric field, relative humidity of less than 35%, and a splitter position of 4 cm horizontal distance and 25 cm vertical distance. A relationship to predict the recovery of plastics has been developed through regression analysis based on factors identified by analyzing free falling trajectories of particles under gravity and electrostatic attractions