FEATURE
The Rare Earth Roll Separator has a thin belt feeding material onto a head pulley constructed from high-strength neodymium rare earth magnets. As material passes over the head roll, weakly magnetic metals are attracted to the radial high-intensity field and held on the belt before being deposited underneath. A strategically placed splitter enables the separation of the attracted metals (including fragmented stainless-steel) from other non-magnetic materials (e.g. fine copper wire and aluminium).
Recovering fine copper wire The remaining non-magnetic metal mix passes onto the third separation stage to recover fine copper wire at a feed rate of approximately one tonne per hour. The ElectroStatic Separator is a recent additional to the range of Bunting metal separators. Electrostatic Separators provide the only existing separation method for a number of recycling applications.
The technology produces a separation by exploiting the difference in electrical conductivity between various materials in a feed material. The ability to produce a separation depends on a number of key material characteristics including a particle’s conductivity, the moisture content of the material and the particle size range.
A classic example uses the the differing conductivity of insulators (plastics) and conductors (copper and aluminium). The insulators are pinned to the earthed roll via an image force whilst the conductors lose their charge and fall away from the roll by the natural trajectory. The separation of metal particles with different conductivity (e.g. copper and aluminium) is also possible.
In many applications where the particle size range is fine, the ElectroStatic Separator is the only technology able to execute separation (e.g. -2mm copper granulate from plastics).
The ElectroStatic Separator either has a single or double stage of separation. There are three sizes designed to handle different capacities with feed widths of 500, 1000 and 1500mm. In this project, the single-stage ElectroStatic Separator recovers metals such as fine copper wire with a purity of +95%.
Developing new metal separation processes, such as this three-stage Magnetic Separator and ElectroStatic
Separator system, is vitally important to reduce the amount of metal lost to waste and of unrecyclable material sent to landfill. There is also significant financial gain, with increased metal recovery and reduced disposal costs.
Videos explaining the technology and showing the separation performance are available to view on the Bunting-Redditch YouTube channel:
• Metal Separation Module, consisting of a Drum Magnet and Rare Earth Roll Magnetic Separator; ElectroStatic Separator
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Investigating metal separation possibilities at Bunting’s Redditch Customer Experience Centre provides experienced process engineers with the technology needed to maximise both metal recovery and purity.
Bunting invites companies to contact Bunting to arrange such test work.
Additional information on metal recovery and separation using the ElectroStatic Separator, magnetic separators, and eddy current separators is available on the Bunting website.
www.mastermagnets.com 25
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