title: Theoretic model and computer simulation of separating mixture metal particles from waste printed circuit board by electrostatic separator.
abstract: Traditionally, the mixture metals from waste printed circuit board (PCB) were sent to the smelt factory to refine pure copper. Some valuable metals (aluminum, zinc and tin) with low content in PCB were lost during smelt. A new method which used roll-type electrostatic separator (RES) to recovery low content metals in waste PCB was presented in this study. The theoretic model which was established from computing electric field and the analysis of forces on the particles was used to write a program by MATLAB language. The program was design to simulate the process of separating mixture metal particles. Electrical, material and mechanical factors were analyzed to optimize the operating parameters of separator. The experiment results of separating copper and aluminum particles by RES had a good agreement with computer simulation results. The model could be used to simulate separating other metal (tin, zinc, etc.) particles during the process of recycling waste PCBs by RES.
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Zhenming
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yaohe
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000535:Aluminum; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003300:Copper; D004581:Electronics; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D055672:Static Electricity; D018505:Waste Management / Q000379:methods*; D014866:Waste Products
chemical_list: D014866:Waste Products; D003300:Copper; D000535:Aluminum