The recovery of recyclable materials from Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) by using vertical vibration separation

In this article, the vertical vibration technique is described as it is used to separate a mixture of plastic and bronze in water. When a mixture of two equally sized granular materials is vertically vibrated, they often separate into two distinct layers. Plastic and bronze were used to mimic the situation of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) materials. At low frequency, a bronze rich layer is formed on top of a plastic layer, while at higher frequency the bronze remained sandwiched between two layers of plastic. A similar result was obtained when equivalent size shredded WEEE materials were vibrated. These results were compared with those in the plastic-bronze mixture. The WEEE mixture separates into a copper rich layer on top. The observations and possible mechanisms of this separation are discussed.