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Influence of shape and size of the particles on jigging separation of plastics

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 Waste Management 48 (2016) 89–94

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Waste Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman

Influence of shape and size of the particles on jigging separation of

plastics mixture
Fernando Pita ⇑, Ana Castilho
Geosciences Centre, Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
Centre for Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Plastics are popular for numerous applications due to their high versatility and favourable properties
Received 22 July 2015 such as endurance, lightness and cheapness. Therefore the generation of plastic waste is constantly
Revised 9 October 2015 increasing, becoming one of the larger categories in municipal solid waste.
Accepted 30 October 2015
Almost all plastic materials are recyclable, but for the recycling to be possible it is necessary to separate
Available online 7 November 2015
the different types of plastics. The aim of this research was to evaluate the performance of the jig sepa-
ration of bi-component plastic mixtures. For this study six granulated plastics had been used: Polystyrene
Keywords:
(PS), Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET-S, PET-D) and Polyvinyl
Plastic
Jig separation
Chloride (PVC-M, PVC-D).
Density Plastics mixtures were subjected to jigging in a laboratorial Denver mineral jig. The results showed that
Particle size the quality of the jigging separation varies with the mixture, the density differences and with the size and
Particle shape shape of the particles. In the case of particles with more regular shapes the quality of separation of bi-
component plastic mixtures improved with the increase of the particle size. For lamellar particles the
influence of particle size was minimal.
In general, the beneficiation of plastics with similar densities was not effective, since the separation
efficiency was lower than 25%. However, in bi-component plastic mixtures that join a low density plastic
(PS) with a high density one (PMMA, PET-S, PET-D, PVC-M and PVC-D), the quality of the jigging separa-
tion was greatly improved. The PS grade in the sunk was less than 1% for all the plastic mixtures.
Jigging proved to be an effective method for the separation of bi-component plastic mixtures. Jigging
separation will be enhanced if the less dense plastic, that overflows, has a lamellar shape and if the denser
plastic, that sinks, has a regular one.
Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In the last decades, plastic has acquired a greater importance in
people’s lives, contributing to the improvement of life standards.
Traditional materials (such as glass, metals and wood) have been
replaced by plastic equivalents. The total global production of plastics
grew from around 1.5 million tons in 1950, to 299 million tons in
2013 (PlasticsEurope, 2015). The world consumption has been
increasing yearly, with an average annual growth rate of 5%. However,
that growth will be region-specific with a larger increasing occur-
ring in Asia. In Portugal, plastics consumption has also been increasing
about 5% per year, however, European data show a stabilization
⇑ Corresponding author at: Geosciences Centre, Department of Earth Sciences,
Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra, Rua Silvio Lima, 3030-
790 Coimbra, Portugal.
E-mail addresses: fpita@ci.uc.pt (F. Pita), amcastil@dct.uc.pt (A. Castilho).
in 2013, after the 2009 turn-down, being current levels similar to
those of 2002 (57 million tons) (PlasticsEurope, 2015).
The increase in the consumption of plastic products results in
the generation of a vast solid waste stream that needs to be prop-
erly managed. Plastics waste has become one of the larger cate-
gories in municipal solid waste (MSW). In Portugal, plastics
account for approximately 11% of MSW by weight, but regarding
the low density plastic waste, represent more than 25% of MSW
by volume (APA, 2014). Such large quantities of the diverse mix-
ture of plastics place a great burden on limited landfill capacity
and environment, not to mention an appropriate waste
management.
Over time, plastics have acquired a negative reputation due to
its difficult decomposition. In a landfill, they will remain unaltered
due to light and oxygen absence. However, when properly col-
lected and processed, plastics can be valued through recycling
and/or energy recovery.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2015.10.034
0956-053X/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
90 F. Pita, A. Castilho / Waste Management 48 (2016) 89–94
Plastics must be primarily separated into polymer types in
order to achieve a high recycled plastic quality. In recent years,
several studies have attempted to adapt mineral processing meth-
ods to separate mixed plastics waste into their individual compo-
nents. These included the application of gravity methods (Ferrara
et al., 2000; Tsunekawa et al., 2005; Pascoe, 2006; Pongstabodee
et al., 2008; Hori et al., 2009; Ito et al., 2010; Gent et al., 2009,
2011; Kuwayama et al., 2011; Richard et al., 2011), froth flotation
(Shibata et al., 1996; Shen et al., 1999, 2001, 2002; Marques and
Tenório, 2000; Agante et al., 2004; Fraunholcz, 2004;
Takoungsakdakun and Pongstabodee, 2007; Burat et al., 2009;
Abbasi et al., 2010); electrostatic (Dodbiba et al., 2003, 2005;
Gente et al., 2003; Lungu, 2004; Bedeković et al., 2011) and auto-
matic sorting: X-ray detection (X-ray transmission and X-ray fluo-
rescence), which is used for separation of PVC containers
(Arvanitoyannis and Bosnea, 2001); near infrared reflectance
(NIR) spectroscopy (Scott, 1995; Masoumi et al., 2012) and optical
sorting (Tachwali et al., 2007; Safavi et al., 2010).
These studies intended to facilitate and improve the separation
of plastics through the use of mechanical means. One of these pro-
cesses is gravity separation (specially jigging) where the separation
is based upon density difference of materials.
Jigging is a gravity concentration method that takes place in a
pulsatile bed. A mixture of solid–water is placed in a perforated
vessel at the bottom (jig), through which vertical currents of water
are forced. The action of those currents either expands (ascending
currents) or compacts (descending currents) the pulsating bed. The
particles stratification is based on density difference between the
constituent particles of the mixture. The heavier particles move
downwards and stay inside the jigging cell, while the lighter ones
go upwards and overflow.
In the present study, the separation of plastics mixtures by jig-
ging was analysed, as well as, the role of density differences, and
the size and shape of the plastic particles.
2. Materials and methods
This study used six types of granulated plastics from three recy-
cling companies: Polystyrene (PS, black), Polymethyl methacrylate
(PMMA, white), Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET-D, transparent)
and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC-D, gray) from Daniel Morais; Poly-
ethylene Terephthalate (PET-S, blue) from Logociclo–Selenis and
Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC-M, light green) from Micronipol.
The density of the plastics was measured by an Ultra Pycnome-
ter (AccuPyc 1330) (Table 1).
Different sorts and amounts of additives present in plastics
could cause density differences among PET and PVC types, never-
theless, there are also different plastics that have similar densities,
such as PVC-D
PMMA.
The particles used in the feeds had sizes between 1 and 5.6 mm.
To study the influence of the particle size in the jigging separation
the material was classified in five size fractions: +1–1.4, +1.4–2,
+2–2.8, +2.8–4 and +4–5.6 mm. These fractions were obtained by
dry sieving, using sieves of the R20/3 series in woven wire for fine
Table 1
Plastic densities (3 samples average).
Plastics Density (kg/m3)
PS 1047
PMMA 1204
PVC-D 1209
PVC-M 1326
PET-D 1364
PET-S 1372
aggregates (up to 4 mm) and perforated plates with square holes
for coarser particles.
The shape of the particles, an important factor in jigging separa-
tion, was described by a shape factor (F) as the ratio between the
thickness (Dmin) and the length (Dmax) of the particles. These
dimensions were measured with a calliper in thirty particles in
every size fraction, and then computed to calculate the shape fac-
tor F. Average dimensions (Dmin and Dmax) and F factors vary with
the type of plastic and with the particle size (Fig. 1).
PMMA, PS and PVC-D particles have more equant shapes, simi-
lar to small spheres, while PET-D particles have lamellar shapes,
with a Dmin average of about 0.3 mm. The PET-S and PVC-M parti-
cles exhibit lamellar shapes, but they have a Dmin higher than PET-
D particles. Some PET-S particles, especially those with a size
greater than 2.8 mm, have a slightly wavy shape, which can ham-
per the penetration in the jigging bed. The particle shape factor
increases with the particle size in PS, PMMA and PVC-D particles,
whereas in the other three plastics, the shape factor decreases with
the size (Fig. 1).
The jigging separations were tested in bi-component mixtures,
contributing each plastic with 50% of the total weight. The tests
were carried out in a Denver laboratory jig, with a rectangular sec-
tion with 10  15 cm and a bottom of steel wire screen (aperture
size of 0.5 mm). The frequency of the diaphragm movement was
250 cycles/min, and in each test was used 0.5 kg of material, i.e.
0.25 kg of each type of plastic, so the feed sample, added in the
beginning of the test, resulted in a 5 cm bed thickness. The time
of the jigging test was set to 6 min. The tests were carried out three
times under similar operating conditions.
The mixture in the separation chamber was stratified as a result
of the periodic dilation of the bed, through the action of the pulsat-
ing currents of water, because lighter particles moved to the top
and overflow, or floated, while heavier particles move to the bot-
tom, and sunk. To facilitate writing, the product that overflows in
the jigging operation will be designated by floated; and the one
that remains inside will be designated by sunk. After the experi-
ments, the sunk product was removed from the jig. The floated
and sunk products were then dried, screened and weighed. The
mass of the two types of plastic present in the float and sunk mate-
rials were determined after manual sorting and weighing, since
they have different colours and shapes.
The effectiveness of the plastic separation was quantified by the
efficiency of separation, defined by Schulz (1970) as g = RP1–RP2
(where g is the separation efficiency, RP1 is the recovery of plastic
1 in the floated and RP2 is the recovery of plastic 2 in the floated).
Consider the recovery of a plastic type, P1 for instance, as RP1, as
the percentage rate between the mass of P1 present in the floated
and the initial mass of P1 in the feed, and the grade of that same
Fig. 1. Shape factor of the six plastics for the five size fractions.
 F. Pita, A. Castilho / Waste Management 48 (2016) 89–94
plastic in the floated, GP1, as the percentage rate between the mass
of P1 present in the floated and the total mass of the floated.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Preliminary essay
The likely effectiveness of the gravity separation methods can
be predicted using the concentration criterion (CC) (Wills, 1979),
as follows:
ðq1  qf Þ
CC ¼
ðq2  qf Þ
where q1 is the density of the heavy species, q2 is the density of the
light species, and qf is the density of the fluid (around 1000 kg/m3
for water) (Table 2).
In mineral processing CC values predict the easiness of gravity
separation: easy for values greater than 2.5; possible only for feeds
coarser than 0.15 mm, for values between 2.5 and 1.75; possible
only for feeds coarser than 1.4 mm, for values between 1.75 and
1.5; possible only for feeds coarser than 6 mm, for values between
1.5 and 1.25; and impossible when values are lower than 1.25
(Burt, 1984).
The CC values of four plastic mixtures are lower than 1.5 indi-
cating that the separation could be impossible for the size fractions
that were used in this study. Theoretically, it should be possible to
separate 11 of the original 15 mixtures, five of them easily
(Table 2). Despite of these results, the separation of the two kinds
of PET or PVC was never intended, because they are recycled
together.
A preliminary essay was designed to test the eight heteroge-
neous plastic mixtures that had CC values under 2.5, trying to eval-
uate the viability of their separation. A medium size fraction (+2.8–
4 mm) was chosen and the tests were aimed to obtain a floated
enriched in the lighter plastic and a sunk enriched in the denser
plastic (Fig. 2).
The separation efficiencies obtained in the jigging tests were
under 25%. The worst separations occurred in the PVC-D/PET-S
and the PMMA/PVC-M mixtures, with values near 2%. The recover-
ies of the two plastics in these mixtures were similar, with values
close to the initial grades (50% each). PVC-D had a lower density
than PET-S (Table 1), what should have lead to a floated enriched
in PVC-D. However, possibly because of the lamellar shape of the
PET-S, its particles had greater difficulty to penetrate the jigging
bed during the stratification process and were dragged to the
floated. The same happened with the PMMA/PVC-M mixture.
The best results (with efficiencies between 17% and 25%) were
achieved in the PMMA/PET-D; PVC-M/PET-D and PVC-M/PET-S
mixtures, although they were not expected. It was expectable that
PMMA could float more easily because of its lower density. Never-
theless, the floated presented a grade of 64.2% in PET-D and the
Table 2
Concentration criterion (CC) computed for the 15 possible mixtures.
CC PS PMMA PVC-D PVC-M PET-D
PS
PMMA 4.34
PVC-D 4.45 1.02
PVC-M 6.94 1.60 1.56
PET-D 7.74 1.78 1.74 1.12
PET-S 7.91 1.82 1.78 1.14 1.02
Note: Underlined CC values are from mixtures impossible to separate for feeds up to
6 mm (after Wills, 1979), calculated by the Eq. (1) with the density values of
Table 1.
91
sunk a grade of 60.8% in PMMA (Fig. 2). In these mixtures, the
densest plastics (PET-D and PET-S) have also lamellar shapes.
Therefore, in the eight plastics mixtures tested, the floated was
slightly enriched in denser plastic. Also, in all eight mixtures, the
particles of the denser plastic possess a more lamellar shape than
the particles of the less dense plastic. This behaviour could be a
consequence of the influence of particles shape in the jigging pro-
cess. The effect of the particles density may have been overlapped
by the effect of the particles shape (Pascoe, 2006; Brozek and
Surowiak, 2007), though further work is needed to reach a
conclusion.
In the preliminary tests, the CC values have not had a significant
ð1Þ relationship with the efficiency of the separation (R-squared value
of 0.108 for a linear adjustment) (Table 2 and Fig. 2). However, the
shape factor was not considered. Burt (1984) suggested another
equation for the estimation of the concentration criterion that took
into account the shape factor, CCs (Eq. (2)).
 
v1
ðq1  qf Þ v 1sph
CCs ¼   ð2Þ
ðq2  qf Þ v2
v 2sph
where q1 and q2 are the density of heavy and light species, respec-
tively; qf is the density of the fluid (around 1000 kg/m3 for water);
v1 and v2 are the terminal velocities of particles of heavy and light
species in water, respectively (measured in the laboratory in a
60 cm high water column); and v1sph and v2sph are the terminal
velocities of heavy and light species of a spherical particle of the
same plastic (values estimated from the theoretical expression con-
sidering the particles to be spherical). Thus, considering the shape
factor, the CCs of the eight mixtures in a medium size fraction
(2.8–4 mm) is presented in Table 3.
In seven mixtures, the values of CCs were lower than the unit,
meaning that the denser plastic could overflow and the lighter
plastic could sink (R2 of 0.37). The values of CCs were more in line
with the results obtained in the preliminary essay, i.e. for the eight
plastic mixtures, the floated is slightly enriched in the denser plas-
tic and the sunk is slightly enriched in the less dense plastic.
The inverse of CCs presents values close to one (Table 3), mean-
ing a greater difficulty to separate the mixtures. The PMMA/PET-D
and PVC-M/PET-D mixtures have the greatest CCs and are those
with better efficiencies of separation.
In face of the previous results, the separation by jigging of those
plastic mixtures did not create a product clearly enriched in one
type of plastic. To improve these results we could repeat the jig-
ging with the jigging products and thus enhance the separation.
3.2. Mixtures of PS with PMMA, PVC and PET
A second set of jigging tests was prepared to test the other five
bi-component plastic mixtures that had CC values over 2.5: PS/
PMMA, PS/PVC-M, PS/PVC-D, PS/PET-D and PS/PET-S, contributing
each plastic with 50% of the total weight. The objective was to
obtain a sunk without PS, since this type of plastic had the lowest
density (Table 1). The feeds used had particles with sizes between
1 and 5.6 mm.
PET-S The concentration criterion of the PS/PMMA and PS/PVC-D mix-
tures increased when the effect of the particle shape was consid-
ered, as a consequence of the more regular shape of the PMMA
and PVC-D particles (Table 4). However, the CC of the PS/PET-S,
PS/PET-D and PS/PVC-M mixtures decreased when the effect of
the particle shape was considered (in CCs), because PET-S, PET-D
and PVC-M particles have more lamellar shapes (Table 4).
For all the mixtures, the sunk had PS grades less than 1%
(Table 4) and the separation efficiencies were over 70%. It must
be noticed that the main difficulty in the jigging separation of
92 F. Pita, A. Castilho / Waste Management 48 (2016) 89–94

Fig. 2. Cross-reference table with the results of the preliminary essay.

Table 3 The separation efficiency order of the five mixtures seems to be

Values of CC and CCs computed for the eight mixtures in the 2.8–4 mm size fraction. closer to the shape factor order of the particles than to the density
Mixture CC CCs 1/CCs order. Separation efficiency order of the five mixtures is also simi-
PMMA/PVC-D 1.02 0.97 1.03
lar to the order of CCs. Therefore, though further work is needed to
PMMA/PVC-M 1.60 1.04 0.96 reach a conclusion, the best results for PS/PMMA mixture could be
PMMA/PET-D 1.78 0.69 1.45 explained by the regular shape of PMMA, because it presented one
PMMA/PET-S 1.82 0.80 1.25 of the lowest densities, while the worst results for PS/PET-D mix-
PVC-D/PET-D 1.74 0.72 1.39
ture could be explained by the lamellar shape of PET-D.
PVC-D/PET-S 1.78 0.83 1.20
PVC-M/PET-D 1.12 0.66 1.52
PVC-M/PET-S 1.14 0.78 1.28
3.3. Influence of the particle size

bi-component mixtures, or in any process of separation, is not to
obtain a pure product, but simultaneously obtain two pure prod-
ucts (floated and sunk).
The separation of the five mixtures had slightly different results
(Table 4). The best separations were obtained for PS/PMMA and
PS/PVC-M mixtures with the highest separation efficiencies (near
85%). For this last mixture, it was obtained a floated with a grade
of 87.4% in PS and a sunk with a grade of 99.4% in PVC-M. On the
other side, PS/PET-D and PS/PET-S had the lowest separation effi-
ciencies, about 72%, with a PS grade in the floated of 78.5% and a
PET-S grade in the sunk of 99.3%. They also had the lowest values
of CC.
In a gravity separation of two materials, the separation effi-
ciency must be larger when the density difference is greater. Thus,
based on plastics densities (Table 1), it would be expected that
the PS/PET-D and PS/PET-S mixtures had the best results and the
PS/PMMA mixture the worst. Surprisingly, PS/PET-D and PS/PET-S
mixtures showed the worst results while the PS/PMMA mixture
achieved one of the best. Therefore, these results cannot be
explained only by the density differences.
The size of the particles is another important factor in the
gravity separation. In the jigging separation of minerals, vertical
granulometric stratification occurs inside the jigging bed. The
coarse particles are in the uppermost strata and the fine particles
are in the lower ones (Wills, 1979). For plastics, whose density is
only slightly greater than water, the effect of particle size can be
different. Hence, the influence of the particle size was analysed.
To accomplish it, the floated and sunk products were sieved in five
size fractions: +1–1.4 mm, +1.4–2, +2–2.8, +2.8–4 and +4–5.6 mm
(Table 5).
Mixtures of PS/PMMA, PS/PVC-D and PS/PVC-M have similar
behaviour related to particle size and jigging efficiency (Table 5).
For all the size fractions, PS recovery in the floated was close to
100%. However, the recovery of the densest plastics (PMMA, PVC-
D, PVC-M) in the sunk increased with the particle size, and as a
consequence, the PS grade in the floated increased with particle
size for the three mixtures. The separation efficiency of these mix-
tures shows an improvement with the particle size, as it could be
seen by the R-squared of the linear regression models, with
positive slopes of 8.5 (PVC-D), 7.8 (PMMA) and 2.9 (PVC-M).

Table 4
Results of the jigging tests on the mixtures of PS with PMMA, PVC-D; PVC-M; PET-D and PET-S (average of three samples).

Floated (overflow) Sunk (underflow) Separation efficiency (%)

Mixture CC CCs PS grade (%) PS recovery (%) Grade of heavy plastic (%) Recovery of heavy plastic (%)
PS/PMMA 4.34 5.18 85.5 99.6 99.5 83.1 82.7
PS/PVC-D 4.45 5.07 82.4 99.4 99.2 78.7 78.1
PS/PVC-M 6.94 6.18 87.4 99.5 99.4 85.6 85.1
PS/PET-D 7.74 4.48 77.8 99.5 99.3 71.6 71.1
PS/PET-S 7.91 4.97 78.5 99.5 99.3 72.7 72.2

Notes: Linear regression models for: separation efficiency vs. CC with R2 of 0.308 and a significance of 0.33; separation efficiency vs. CCs: R2 of 0.73 with a significance of 0.07.
 F. Pita, A. Castilho / Waste Management 48 (2016) 89–94 93

Table 5
Influence of the particle size in the recovery and grade of the floated (concentrated of PS) and sunk products, in the separation of bi-component mixtures.

Size fraction (mm) CCs Floated (overflow) Sunk (underflow) Separation efficiency (SE) (%)
PS grade (%) PS recovery (%) PMMA grade (%) PMMA recovery (%)
PS/PMMA +1–1.4 5.07 75.4 99.6 99.4 67.4 67.0
+1.4–2 5.01 78.3 99.6 99.5 72.4 72.0
+2–/2.8 5.25 89.4 99.6 99.6 88.2 87.8
+2.8–4 5.19 93.1 99.7 99.7 92.7 92.4
+4–5.6 5.41 94.9 99.7 99.7 94.6 94.3
PS grade (%) PS recovery (%) PVC-D grade (%) PVC-D recovery (%) SE (%)
PS/PVC-D +1–1.4 5.01 73.5 99.6 99.4 64.1 63.7
+1.4–2 4.76 76.5 99.5 99.3 69.5 69.0
+2–/2.8 5.01 81.8 99.5 99.3 77.8 77.3
+2.8–4 5.00 89.2 99.5 99.4 88.0 87.5
+4–5.6 5.55 94.4 99.5 99.4 94.1 93.6
PS grade (%) PS recovery (%) PVC-M grade (%) PVC-M recovery (%) SE (%)
PS/PVC-M +1–1.4 7.49 82.4 99.7 99.6 78.8 78.5
+1.4–2 6.79 85.6 99.6 99.5 83.3 82.9
+2–/2.8 6.27 88.4 99.5 99.4 86.9 86.4
+2.8–4 5.27 89.6 99.5 99.4 88.5 88.0
+4–5.6 5.08 91.2 99.4 99.4 90.4 89.8
PS grade (%) PS recovery (%) PET-D grade (%) PET-D recovery (%) SE (%)
PS/PET-D +1–1.4 6.82 79.1 99.5 99.3 73.7 73.2
+1.4–2 5.12 78.7 99.5 99.3 73.1 72.6
+2–/2.8 4.36 78.2 99.6 99.4 72.2 71.8
+2.8–4 3.48 76.9 99.5 99.4 70.1 69.6
+4–5.6 2.65 76.0 99.6 99.4 68.5 68.1
PS grade (%) PS recovery (%) PET-S grade (%) PET-S recovery (%) SE (%)
PS/PET-S +1–1.4 7.10 76.8 99.6 99.5 70.0 69.6
+1.4–2 5.86 79.1 99.5 99.3 73.7 73.2
+2–/2.8 5.05 79.2 99.5 99.3 73.9 73.4
+2.8–4 3.89 79.5 99.6 99.5 74.2 73.8
+4–5.6 3.24 77.9 99.6 99.4 71.7 71.3

Notes: Linear regression models results of SE vs. medium size classes and SE vs. CCs.
PS/PMMA vs. size for 5 observations R2 of 0.80; PS/PMMA vs. CCs for 5 observations R2 of 0.73.
PS/PVC-D vs. size for 5 observations R2 of 0.96; PS/PVC-D vs. CCs for 5 observations R2 of 0.53.
PS/PVC-M vs. size for 5 observations R2 of 0.84; PS/PVC-M vs. CCs for 5 observations R2 of 0.94.
PS/PET-D vs. size for 5 observations R2 of 0.98; PS/PET-S vs. CCs for 5 observations R2 of 0.87.
PS/PET-S vs. size for 5 observations R2 of 0.03; PS/PET-S vs. CCs for 5 observations R2 of 0.19.

Nevertheless, the PS/PVC-M mixture had lower separation efficien-
cies for the coarser fractions, and in this case the linear regression
is stronger for SE vs. CCs than for SE vs. Size. This outcome could be
a consequence of the combined effect of the high density and the
more lamellar shape of PVC-M particles, compared with the other
two plastics.
PS/PMMA and PS/PVC-D mixtures had similar CCs values in the
five size fractions (Table 5) as a consequence of a similar variation
of the shape factor of the two plastic types with the particle size
(Fig. 1), but, for the PS/PVC-M, PS/PET-D and PS/PET-S mixtures
the CCs decreased with the increasing of the particle size, because
the shape factor also decreased with the particle size.
PS/PET-D and PS/PET-S mixtures showed rather similar separa-
tion efficiencies (Table 5). For all the size fractions, the SE values
changed less than 5% with the particle size, with separation effi-
ciencies of about 72%. The sunk was a product almost pure in the
densest plastic. PS/PET-D mixture had the best fitted linear regres-
sion model for SE vs. Size, with a negative slope of 1.5, meaning
that the separation efficiency decreases slightly with the increasing
of the particle size. Again, PET-D and PET-S particles had more
lamellar shapes and CCs values decreased with the increasing of
the particle size. The variation of PS/PET-S with both SE and CCs
was not significant, as it can be seen by the results showed in
Table 5. Although the fine size fractions of PS/PET-D and PS/PET-S
had greater values of CCs that was not translated into better jigging
separations. Therefore, despite the weight of the coarser particles,
the lamellar shape could have been responsible for the greater diffi-
culty in penetrating and remaining in the jigging bed.
Pascoe and Hou (1999), Ferrara et al. (2000) and Gent et al.
(2009, 2011) verified that, in the separation of regular-shaped plas-
tics by density media cyclones, the underflow recovery of the heav-
iest plastic increased with the increasing of particle size. These
considerations are in line with the results of the jigging tests per-
formed in PS/PMMA and PS/PVC-D mixtures and, in less extent, in
PS/PVC-M. While, in the jigging separation of ores the finer parti-
cles of the heaviest mineral are in the lower strata of the jigging
bed, in the case of PMMA, PVC-D and PVC-M the opposite is
observed. The finer particles are in the uppermost strata of the jig-
ging bed, while the coarser particles are in the lower ones. This is
consequence of their low density and weight. During the bed
expansion, the finest particles are more easily elevated in the jig-
ging bed than the coarser ones, making them more likely to over-
flow. With the increase of the particle size and consequent increase
of the weight, the intensity of dragging decreases, with a greater
recovery of coarse denser particles in the sunk.
Ferrara et al. (2000) and Pascoe (2006) established that the
underflow recovery of the heaviest plastic decreased with the
increasing of the particle size, when they are studying the separa-
tion of lamellar-shaped plastics by media separation cyclones.
However, Voigt and Twala (2012) verified that in the jigging
94 F. Pita, A. Castilho / Waste Management 48 (2016) 89–94
separation of iron ore the jig’s performance was clearly sensitive to
density and to particle size, but there was no clear indication that
shape affected the performance of the jig.
The overall results indicate that the jigging separations were
more effective (85%) when the less dense plastic had a lamellar
shape, the denser plastic a spherical shape and the particles had
sizes greater than 2.8 mm.
4. Conclusions
It was not possible to separate successfully plastics with high
densities, like PMMA, PVC or PET, of the mixtures tested. In fact,
the separation efficiencies were within a 2–25% range. It may be
possible to separate these plastics mixtures if the less dense plastic
has a lamellar shape, but further work is needed to clearly prove
that.
For bi-component mixtures of plastics that join a low density
plastic (like PS) and a high density plastic (like PMMA, PVC-D,
PVC-M, PET-D and PET-S), the quality of the jigging separation
was always over 70%. The PS grade in the sunk was less than 1%
for all the plastic mixtures.
The separation efficiencies varied with the mixture type and
with the density, size and shape of the particles.
It was verified that for high density plastics that had more
spherical shaped particles (PMMA, PVC-D) the separation efficien-
cies improved almost 30% with the increasing of the particle size,
but in plastics with lamellar particles (PET-D, PET-S) the influence
of the size was minimal (near 5%). Although PET-D and PET-S are
the densest plastics, the PS/PET-D and PS/PET-S mixtures led to less
selective separations.
Unlike mineral processing, jigging tests made with regular-
shaped plastic mixtures produced the worst results in the finest
size fractions, probably due to the fact that plastics have densities
only slightly greater than water. Fine particles of dense plastics are
in the uppermost strata while the coarse particles are in the lower
ones. Therefore, the fine particles of spherical shaped plastics are
easily dragged and overflow.
Lamellar plastic particles also experienced the effect of shape
which could have hampered the penetration of the jigging bed,
and so, these particles would have been more easily dragged. For
the coarsest size fractions, shape could have been more important
in the separation than density. For fine fractions, the influence of
particle shape was less evident than the influence of the density.
Jigging separation was effective (85%) when the less dense plas-
tic had a lamellar shape, the denser plastic a spherical shape and
the particles had sizes greater than 2.8 mm. Since the floated of
the five mixtures is not 100% PS, multiple jigging separations
should be implemented to improve the separation.
Optimum purities (up to 100%) in the dense plastics and high
recoveries of the light plastics were obtained. Based on these
results, jigging has potential in the separation of plastics, taking
into account the difficulty of the manual separation.
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