Application of jig separator to recycle plastics used in electrical appliances

Development of mechanical separation of different plastics is essential in planning and constructing a recycling plant that processes scrapped office and home appliances. The authors have developed a plastic separator using a TACUB jig. Jig separation for plastics of smaller sizes (0.5-2 mm) but similar specific gravities was performed using polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethylene (PE) from scrap electric wires. High-grade PE and PVC products over 99.8% were obtained under pulsation of smaller frequency and amplitude than that for coarser plastics. For the plastics from scrap copying machines containing polystyrene (PS), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high grades (>99%) of each plastic were recovered in the two cells of the jig, where PET, is recovered from the first cell as a bottom product, and ABS and PS from the second cell as bottom and upper layer products, respectively. Their sizes ranged from 3.5-10mm and their specific gravities were 1.03, 1.22 and 1.71 for PS, ABS, and PET respectively. Based on the results, a recycling plant for processing scrap office and home appliances had been constructed.