In the challenging economic situation nowadays, the price of recycled polymers remained at a relatively low level compared to previous years. The low prices of virgin plastics also worsen the situation for recycled materials. The economic viability of plastic recycling is under continuous pressure as a result.
Therefore, innovation in recycling technology that improves productivity while also manages cost and quality is crucial to empower the plastic recycling industry in these challenging times.
Armost has always been at the forefront to technological innovation in the electrostatic separation process of waste plastics since our establishment. Our groundbreaking innovation – the Intelligent Mixed Plastic Separation System began the era of industrial recycling of WEEE plastics in China in 2014. When using small domestic appliances as the benchmark material, our system setup can process up to 2-3 T/h of waste plastics.
However, the source material in WEEE is also quite variable. The processing capacity of the electrostatic separation system can vary greatly as a result. This is because the bulk density of the material can greatly different.
For example, refrigerator sourced ABS has considerably lower bulk density than small domestic appliances sourced ABS. The difference arises from the thickness of the material – refrigerator sourced ABS flakes are considerably thinner than small domestic appliances sourced ABS flakes. From our experience, with the same volume, small domestic appliances sourced ABS flakes typically weigh 1.3-1.4 times more than refrigerator sourced ABS flakes. Therefore, it is previously considered a success if the capacity reaches 1.5 T/h.
This record was recently broken at our Korean customer’s site. The material is refrigerator sourced ABS, PS and other plastics, where ABS can take up to 75% to 90% of the total weight. In our new design, even when just calculating ABS output, we were able to surpass 2 T/h output, with purity level always above 98%, and many times over 99%. The overall output can be calculated at around 2.2 to 2.7 T/h.
This achievement was made possible due to our continuous effort to better our electrostatic separation process. With many key improvements to our system design, we were able to overcome yet another obstacle in the plastic recycling industry, improving processing capacity once again to new heights, while improving stability and ease of maintenance, creating more value for plastic recyclers around the world.
Post time: Oct-21-2024