Plastics are widely used in everyday life as a useful material, and thus their consumption is growing at a rate of about 5% per year in Korea. However, the constant generation of plastic wastes and their disposal generates environmental problems along with economic loss. In particular, mixed waste plastics are difficult to recycle because of their inferior characteristics. A laboratory-scale triboelectrostatic separator unit has been designed and assembled for this study. On the basis of the control of electrostatic charge, the separation of three kinds of mixed plastics, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), in a range of similar gravities has been performed through a two-stage separation process. Polypropylene (PP) and high-impact polystyrene (HIPS) were found to be the most effective materials for a tribo-charger in the separation of PVC, PET, and ABS. The charge-to-mass ratio (nC/g) of plastics increased with increasing air velocity in the tribo charger. In the first stage, using the PP cyclone charger, the separation efficiency of particles considerably depended on the air velocity (10 m/s), the relative humidity (< 30%), the electrode potential (> 20 kV), and the splitter position (+2 cm from the center) in the triboelelctrostatic separator unit. At this time, a PVC grade of 99.40% and a recovery of 98.10% have successfully been achieved. In the second stage, using the HIPS cyclone charger, a PET grade of 97.80% and a recovery of 95.12% could be obtained under conditions of 10 m/s, over 25 kV, a central splitter position, and less than 40% relative humidity. In order to obtain 99.9% PVC grade and 99.3% PET grade, their recoveries should be sacrificed by 20.9% and 27%, respectively, with moving the splitter from the center to a (+)6 cm position.

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The interaction forces between air bubbles and mineral surfaces were directly measured during the attachment process using an apparatus developed in our laboratory, and they are defined as the attachment forces. The attachment forces were measured between the air bubble and mineral surfaces modified with surfactants to have different hydrophobicities. Chalcopyrite and galena were used as the mineral surfaces, and their hydrophobicity was controlled by adsorbing xanthates with different hydrocarbon chain lengths. The hydrophobicity is represented by the static contact angle of water on the mineral surface. When the static contact angle was less than 90°, the attachment force increased considerably with increasing static contact angle of the surfaces, irrespective of the mineral type or the hydrocarbon chain length of the adsorbed xanthate. The hydrophobicity of the mineral surface is found to be the dominant factor determining the attachment force. The measured attachment forces agree well with those calculated based on the force balance model derived from the capillary force and Laplace pressure equation. Microflotation experiments to examine the relationship between the attachment force and flotation kinetics were carried out under the same conditions to control surface hydrophobicity. The variation in the flotation kinetic constants and attachment forces with the water contact angle are very similar. As a result, the attachment forces measured by the developed apparatus can provide quantitative information on the interaction between an air bubble and the mineral surface and can be used for predicting the flotation kinetics.

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