Application of JIG ｓeparator to ｒecycle plastics used in electrical appliances

Development of mechanical separation of different plastics is essential in planning and construct-ing a recycling plant that processes scrapped office and home appliances. The authors have de-veloped 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 polyethyl-ene (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 copy machines containing polystyrene (PS), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high grade (>99%) of each plastic was re-covered in the two cells of the jig, where PET is recovered from the first cell as 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.