What is Electrostatic Separation

This chapter discusses the problem of Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) as one of the largest growing waste streams globally, the influence of the product complexity and liberation in separation, and the basics of electrostatic separation. A very short review of mechanical separation processes is given and research conducted on one fraction of CRT TV set is presented. A CRT TV set fraction with higher copper content consists of yokes of a cathode tube, cables, connectors, and wires, which were tested by electrostatic separation method. The aim of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of electrostatic separation, to determine and rank the influence of separator operating parameters, and to set models for assessment of the concentration quality and recovery of metals. The results show that it is possible to achieve a high quality of concentrates (metal content from 77 to 100%), while recovery varies greatly (from 10 to 99%).