WO2003024603A1 - Recovery of plastics material from optical storage media - Google Patents

Recovery of plastics material from optical storage media Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2003024603A1
WO2003024603A1 PCT/AU2002/001280 AU0201280W WO03024603A1 WO 2003024603 A1 WO2003024603 A1 WO 2003024603A1 AU 0201280 W AU0201280 W AU 0201280W WO 03024603 A1 WO03024603 A1 WO 03024603A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
plastics material
storage medium
granules
optical storage
storage container
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/AU2002/001280
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Brian Saurine
Original Assignee
Australian Plastics Re-Processing Pty Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Australian Plastics Re-Processing Pty Ltd filed Critical Australian Plastics Re-Processing Pty Ltd
Publication of WO2003024603A1 publication Critical patent/WO2003024603A1/en

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B03—SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS; MAGNETIC OR ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS FROM SOLID MATERIALS OR FLUIDS; SEPARATION BY HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTRIC FIELDS
    • B03B—SEPARATING SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS
    • B03B5/00—Washing granular, powdered or lumpy materials; Wet separating
    • B03B5/28—Washing granular, powdered or lumpy materials; Wet separating by sink-float separation
    • B03B5/30—Washing granular, powdered or lumpy materials; Wet separating by sink-float separation using heavy liquids or suspensions
    • B03B5/36—Devices therefor, other than using centrifugal force
    • B03B5/40—Devices therefor, other than using centrifugal force of trough type
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B03—SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS; MAGNETIC OR ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS FROM SOLID MATERIALS OR FLUIDS; SEPARATION BY HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTRIC FIELDS
    • B03B—SEPARATING SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS
    • B03B11/00—Feed or discharge devices integral with washing or wet-separating equipment
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B03—SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS; MAGNETIC OR ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS FROM SOLID MATERIALS OR FLUIDS; SEPARATION BY HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTRIC FIELDS
    • B03B—SEPARATING SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS
    • B03B5/00—Washing granular, powdered or lumpy materials; Wet separating
    • B03B5/28—Washing granular, powdered or lumpy materials; Wet separating by sink-float separation
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B03—SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS; MAGNETIC OR ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS FROM SOLID MATERIALS OR FLUIDS; SEPARATION BY HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTRIC FIELDS
    • B03B—SEPARATING SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS
    • B03B5/00—Washing granular, powdered or lumpy materials; Wet separating
    • B03B5/28—Washing granular, powdered or lumpy materials; Wet separating by sink-float separation
    • B03B5/30—Washing granular, powdered or lumpy materials; Wet separating by sink-float separation using heavy liquids or suspensions
    • B03B5/44—Application of particular media therefor
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
    • B07B—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS BY SIEVING, SCREENING, SIFTING OR BY USING GAS CURRENTS; SEPARATING BY OTHER DRY METHODS APPLICABLE TO BULK MATERIAL, e.g. LOOSE ARTICLES FIT TO BE HANDLED LIKE BULK MATERIAL
    • B07B4/00—Separating solids from solids by subjecting their mixture to gas currents
    • B07B4/02—Separating solids from solids by subjecting their mixture to gas currents while the mixtures fall
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
    • B07B—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS BY SIEVING, SCREENING, SIFTING OR BY USING GAS CURRENTS; SEPARATING BY OTHER DRY METHODS APPLICABLE TO BULK MATERIAL, e.g. LOOSE ARTICLES FIT TO BE HANDLED LIKE BULK MATERIAL
    • B07B7/00—Selective separation of solid materials carried by, or dispersed in, gas currents
    • B07B7/01—Selective separation of solid materials carried by, or dispersed in, gas currents using gravity
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
    • B29B—PREPARATION OR PRETREATMENT OF THE MATERIAL TO BE SHAPED; MAKING GRANULES OR PREFORMS; RECOVERY OF PLASTICS OR OTHER CONSTITUENTS OF WASTE MATERIAL CONTAINING PLASTICS
    • B29B17/00—Recovery of plastics or other constituents of waste material containing plastics
    • B29B17/02—Separating plastics from other materials
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B03—SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS; MAGNETIC OR ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS FROM SOLID MATERIALS OR FLUIDS; SEPARATION BY HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTRIC FIELDS
    • B03B—SEPARATING SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS
    • B03B11/00—Feed or discharge devices integral with washing or wet-separating equipment
    • B03B2011/006—Scraper dischargers
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B03—SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS; MAGNETIC OR ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS FROM SOLID MATERIALS OR FLUIDS; SEPARATION BY HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTRIC FIELDS
    • B03B—SEPARATING SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS
    • B03B11/00—Feed or discharge devices integral with washing or wet-separating equipment
    • B03B2011/008—Screw dischargers
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
    • B29B—PREPARATION OR PRETREATMENT OF THE MATERIAL TO BE SHAPED; MAKING GRANULES OR PREFORMS; RECOVERY OF PLASTICS OR OTHER CONSTITUENTS OF WASTE MATERIAL CONTAINING PLASTICS
    • B29B17/00—Recovery of plastics or other constituents of waste material containing plastics
    • B29B17/02—Separating plastics from other materials
    • B29B2017/0203—Separating plastics from plastics
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
    • B29B—PREPARATION OR PRETREATMENT OF THE MATERIAL TO BE SHAPED; MAKING GRANULES OR PREFORMS; RECOVERY OF PLASTICS OR OTHER CONSTITUENTS OF WASTE MATERIAL CONTAINING PLASTICS
    • B29B17/00—Recovery of plastics or other constituents of waste material containing plastics
    • B29B17/02—Separating plastics from other materials
    • B29B2017/0213—Specific separating techniques
    • B29B2017/0217—Mechanical separating techniques; devices therefor
    • B29B2017/0237—Mechanical separating techniques; devices therefor using density difference
    • B29B2017/0241—Mechanical separating techniques; devices therefor using density difference in gas, e.g. air flow
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
    • B29B—PREPARATION OR PRETREATMENT OF THE MATERIAL TO BE SHAPED; MAKING GRANULES OR PREFORMS; RECOVERY OF PLASTICS OR OTHER CONSTITUENTS OF WASTE MATERIAL CONTAINING PLASTICS
    • B29B17/00—Recovery of plastics or other constituents of waste material containing plastics
    • B29B17/02—Separating plastics from other materials
    • B29B2017/0213—Specific separating techniques
    • B29B2017/0217—Mechanical separating techniques; devices therefor
    • B29B2017/0237—Mechanical separating techniques; devices therefor using density difference
    • B29B2017/0244—Mechanical separating techniques; devices therefor using density difference in liquids
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
    • B29K—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES B29B, B29C OR B29D, RELATING TO MOULDING MATERIALS OR TO MATERIALS FOR MOULDS, REINFORCEMENTS, FILLERS OR PREFORMED PARTS, e.g. INSERTS
    • B29K2069/00—Use of PC, i.e. polycarbonates or derivatives thereof, as moulding material
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
    • B29K—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES B29B, B29C OR B29D, RELATING TO MOULDING MATERIALS OR TO MATERIALS FOR MOULDS, REINFORCEMENTS, FILLERS OR PREFORMED PARTS, e.g. INSERTS
    • B29K2705/00—Use of metals, their alloys or their compounds, for preformed parts, e.g. for inserts
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
    • B29L—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASS B29C, RELATING TO PARTICULAR ARTICLES
    • B29L2017/00—Carriers for sound or information
    • B29L2017/001—Carriers of records containing fine grooves or impressions, e.g. disc records for needle playback, cylinder records
    • B29L2017/003—Records or discs
    • B29L2017/005—CD''s, DVD''s
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02W—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO WASTEWATER TREATMENT OR WASTE MANAGEMENT
    • Y02W30/00—Technologies for solid waste management
    • Y02W30/50—Reuse, recycling or recovery technologies
    • Y02W30/52—Mechanical processing of waste for the recovery of materials, e.g. crushing, shredding, separation or disassembly
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02W—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO WASTEWATER TREATMENT OR WASTE MANAGEMENT
    • Y02W30/00—Technologies for solid waste management
    • Y02W30/50—Reuse, recycling or recovery technologies
    • Y02W30/62—Plastics recycling; Rubber recycling

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for separation and recovery or reclamation of plastics material and in particular to an apparatus and method for separation and recovery of the components making up optical storage media products and plastic storage containers for such products.
  • Disk recording media such as optical disks
  • CDs compact disks
  • other optical disks in the CD family have been used on a large scale.
  • a CD includes a polycarbonate substrate, an aluminium reflective film, and a protective layer deposited in that order.
  • CDs are not particularly fragile, they can be rendered unusable if the surface of the disc is scratched or marred, or a disc is otherwise chipped, cracked or broken. In order to prevent damage, it is important that a storage case be provided that will protect the disc during transportation to the consumer, and while in the possession of the consumer.
  • optical storage, media such as CDs have become so ubiquitous that they now present a disposal problem.
  • waste optical media also present a potentially valuable resource in terms of the plastic material from which they are formed, and in the case of some forms of optical media (eg
  • the present invention provides a method for the recovery of plastic material from a combination of:
  • the "at least one insert, label, wrapper or the like" to which reference is herein made may be formed from any material conventionally used in optical disk labels, insert or packaging.
  • the insert, label and/or wrapper may in the form of a sheet or a film.
  • the material may be paper sheet and/or plastic film.
  • the storage container may be a jewel case conventionally used to store CDs and the like, although it will be clear that the method of the present invention has application to any storage container formed from at least one plastics material.
  • Step (i) may be carried out at the same location as steps (ii) and (iii) or step (i) may be carried out at a remote location and transported to the site at which steps (ii) and (iii) are performed.
  • the present invention provides a method for the recovery of plastic material from the combination of:
  • Steps (iii) and (iii) may be repeated, preferably until substantially all the pieces are removed.
  • the size of the granulated plastic material is preferably in the range of about 8 to 10 mm.
  • the first and second plastics material may be the same or different.
  • the first plastics material may be a polycarbonate, which is conventionally used in optical disks
  • the second plastics material may be a styrene polymer or copolymer and/or a ABS copolymer (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) which is conventionally used in jewel cases.
  • Conventionally optical disk storage containers comprise three types of plastics - polystyrene, high impact polystyrene with a minor proportion of ABS.
  • the optical storage medium may be any optical recording medium eg
  • CD CD, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, CD-DA, CD-1 and DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW and the like.
  • the gas stream may be an air stream.
  • the present invention provides, in a third aspect, a method for the recovery of plastics material from one or more material(s) containing at least two different plastics, the method comprising the steps of: granulating said one or more materials to produce granules of each of the different plastics materials; and submerging said granulated material in a liquid having a specific gravity equal to or falling between the specific gravity of one plastics material and selectively recovering one of the plastics materials.
  • the first plastics material may be an optical storage medium and the second plastics material may be a container therefor.
  • the plastics may be laminated and the method may include a preliminary treatment to separate said laminate layers.
  • the present invention provides a method in accordance with the first and second aspect respectively including as a further step, the method of the third aspect.
  • the present invention provides a method for the recovery of plastic material from a combination of: (a) at least one optical storage medium formed at least in part from a first plastics material; (b) at least one storage container adapted for holding said optical storage medium, the storage container being formed at least in part from a second plastics material; and
  • the present invention provides a method for the recovery of plastic material from the combination of:
  • the liquid used in the method of the foregoing aspects of the invention may be a solution.
  • the solution used may be a salt solution.
  • the salt may be sodium chloride.
  • An advantage of using sodium chloride is that a conventional dechlorinator (eg a swimming pool dechlorinator) may be used to treat the saline solution prior to disposing it to waste.
  • the solution may be contained in a settling tank or the like.
  • the SG of the solution may fall in the range 1.02 to 1.2.
  • the SG may be about 1.02.
  • the plastic material of the optical recording medium will usually comprise a metal film, which may be aluminium or a more valuable metal such as gold.
  • This metal film may be removed by subjecting granules of the first plastic to a metal recovery step.
  • the optical recording medium may have printing thereon which may also be removed.
  • the present invention provides in further aspects respectively, a method of the fourth or fifth aspects, which further comprises a step in which a least a portion of metal associated with the separated granules of the first plastics material is recovered.
  • the methods and apparatus of the invention extend to recovery of metals in addition to recovery of plastics.
  • the metal may be recovered by subjecting the separated first plastics material to wet mechanical agitation.
  • the wet mechanical agitation is carried out in the presence of a granular abrasive material, eg sand, to assist in the removal of printing from the surface of the granules.
  • a granular abrasive material eg sand
  • the wet mechanical agitation may be performed in a hammer mill or the like.
  • the present invention provides any plastics material and/or metal recovered by a method in accordance with the present invention.
  • a particular advantage of the present invention is that it avoids the use of chemicals (apart from salt) in the process and so avoids the production of chemical waste that must be disposed of.
  • the present invention provides an apparatus for the recovery of plastic material from the combination of: (a) at least one optical storage medium formed at least in part from a first plastics material;
  • the apparatus comprising: (i) granulation means for granulating said first and second plastics material and for forming pieces of said paper or the like;
  • the granulation means has a set of knives or the like on a rotary stator.
  • An example of a suitable granulator is an Olmar granulator.
  • the granulator is equipped with a vacuum chamber below the rotary knives to prevent the paper from clogging up the screen of the granulator.
  • the flow of air through the at least one column is controllable by means of a valve.
  • the apparatus of the present invention is equipped with a plurality of columns, each of the columns communicating at or adjacent their base with an adjacent column to allow granulated plastics material to pass therebetween.
  • Each column may be provided with an opening adjacent the top of the column to allow paper to be blown out of the column into a collection point.
  • the means for providing a flow of air may be at least one fan, blower or compressor or it each column may have an associated fan or blower.
  • a single blower provides a flow of air in each column, with the flow of air being controlled by means of a valve.
  • An alternative to using valves is to control air flow by using columns of different diameters. For example, a 100 mm diameter pipe could be used for the first column and pipes of diameter of about 300mm could be used for the other pipes. A combination of metering valves and column diameters may be employed.
  • the present invention provides a settling tank, the settling tank having a sloping floor, the settling tank including skimmer means for skimming off granular material floating on a liquid contained in the settling tank and screw conveyer means or the like for conveying granular material from the floor of the tank to a location above the floor of the tank.
  • the skimmer means may be a set of paddles or the like connected by a set of mechanically driven circular chains to provide continual skimming of the liquid surface.
  • the present invention has been described with particular reference to optical recording media, it also has application in the treatment of other material(s), provided those materials can be granulated.
  • Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the various stages of an embodiment of a method in accordance with the invention
  • Figure 2 is a detailed schematic drawing of an embodiment of the granulation/paper separation stage of Figure 1 ;
  • Figure 3 is a detailed schematic drawing of an embodiment of the plastics separation stage of Figure 1 ;
  • Figure 4 is a detailed schematic drawing of the separation vessel; and Figure 5 is a detailed schematic drawing of the metal recovery section of the apparatus in accordance with the invention.
  • the CDs/jewel cases/paper inserts are subjected to a "plastic granulation/paper separation" stage 10.
  • the plastic granules, substantially free of paper, are passed to a plastics separation stage 20 in which granules of the plastic material forming the CD (polycarbonate) are separated from granules of plastic forming the jewel case (polystyrene/ABS).
  • the polycarbonate granules are transferred to a metal separation" stage 30 in which metal and printing are separated from the polycarbonate granules.
  • FIG 2 shows the plastic granulation/paper separation stage shown in Figure 1.
  • CDs their jewel cases and paper labelling/inserts are fed into granulator 50.
  • Granulator 50 granulates the plastic content of the CDs and cases and tears/shreds the paper inserts/labelling into pieces.
  • an Olmar granulator having rotary knives supported on a rotor.
  • the granulator was modified to include a vacuum chamber 52.
  • An air blower 70 connected to the vacuum chamber by means of pipe 56, reduces the pressure in vacuum chamber 52 whilst transferring plastic granules/paper pieces produced in the granulator to vertical pipe 60, the first of a series of vertical pipes.
  • Application of a vacuum to the vacuum chamber prevents paper pieces from collecting on the screen of the granulator. We have found that this arrangement allows processing of input material containing up to about 60% paper.
  • each vertical pipe communicates with an adjacent vertical pipe via a blower (72, 74, 76, 78) and pipe (73).
  • each vertical pipe is in fluid communication with an upstream blower and a downstream blower.
  • first vertical pipe 60 is in fluid communication with upstream blower 70 and downstream blower 72.
  • Each upstream blower provides a positive airflow to produce an airstream in the associated downstream vertical pipe.
  • the air speed of this airstream is adjusted by means of metering valve 77, which controls the negative airflow created by the associated downstream blower.
  • the air speed in each vertical pipe is adjusted so that only the paper pieces are entrained in the air stream and transferred to paper collector 85, whilst the plastic granules fall to the bottom of the vertical pipe.
  • the plastic granules freed with reduces paper content are transferred to the adjacent downstream vertical pipe by means of the associated downstream blower. In this arrangement the amount of paper removed decreases progressively from the first vertical pipe to the last pipe, with most paper being removed from the first pipe and very little being removed from the last pipe.
  • the plastics separation section is shown in Figure 3.
  • Plastic granules leaving the last vertical pipe 68 contain little or no paper contamination. These granules are transferred to distributor 101 by means of air flow created by blower 80.
  • Distributor 101 is in the form of a cyclone which removes entrained air from the granulated product.
  • the air-free granules are gravity fed to a mixing vessel or bowl 103, which is located against a side of settling tank 200.
  • Tank 200 contains a saline solution of SG 1.02.
  • the mixing bowl 103 is in fluid communication with the interior of the separation vessel and permits saline solution on one side of a partition (not shown) to pass into the mixing bowl and mix with the plastic granules.
  • the mixture of plastic granules and saline is pumped by pump 123 into the settling tank via conduit 125.
  • the SG of polystyrene is about 1.05 and that of polycarbonate is about 1.2.
  • the polystyrene granules floating on the saline solution are "grabbed" by a series of paddles 127 supported on a pair of driven circular chains 130 and moved towards outlet 140 after being sprayed with fresh water from sprayer 139 (see Figure 4).
  • the rinsed polystyrene granules are transferred to a dryer 143 where they are dried and thereafter the dried granules are transferred to bulk storage container 145.
  • the denser polycarbonate granules settle on the sloping floor 160 of the settling tank and move towards well 162.
  • the polycarbonate granules are raised by screw conveyer 164 to the top of the settling tank and the wet granules are transferred to the metal removal section as shown in Figure 4.
  • At least some of the polycarbonate granules have thin film of a metal such as aluminium. Some of granules also have printing which has to be removed.
  • the wet polycarbonate is metered into a water/sand mixture contained in vessel 300 enclosing hammermill 302.
  • the action of the hammermill removes the metal film while the sand assists in abrading the printing from the polycarbonate granules.
  • Polycarbonate granules free of metal film and printing are removed from vessel 300 and transferred to storage container 306.
  • a portion of the water/sand mixture containing metal film and printing residue is pumped by pump 309 via conduit 308 to water cyclone 320, which separates out wet sand at the base of the cyclone (see Figure 5).
  • the water/sand mixture is returned to vessel 300 by means of pump 322 via conduit 324.
  • the metal film and printing removed by the treatment in vessel 300 floats to the top of the water cyclone and passes into collecting vessel 324 where the metal and printing are retained. Water is removed from vessel 324 and transferred to vessel 326. Water from vessel 326 is recycled by pump 328 to vessel 300 via conduit 400.
  • the polycarbonate and polystyrene recovered by the method described may be recycled.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Separation, Recovery Or Treatment Of Waste Materials Containing Plastics (AREA)

Abstract

A method and apparatus for the recovery of plastic material from a combination of at least one optical storage medium, such as a CD or DVD, formed at least in part from a first plastics material and at least one storage container adapted for holding said optical storage medium is provided; the storage container being formed at least in part from a second plastics material and at least one insert, label, wrapper or the like, the method comprising: providing said optical storage medium and said storage container in the form of granules and said insert, label, wrapper or the like in the form of pieces or the like; introducing said optical storage medium and said storage container in the form of granules and said insert, label, wrapper or the like in the form of pieces or the like into a gas stream to separate said granules from said pieces in said gas stream; and removing at least some of said pieces from said gas stream. In a second stage the first and second plastics are separated from each other by using a liquid having a particular specific gravity such that one type of plastic floats and the other type of plastic sinks.

Description

"RECOVERY OF PLASTICS MATERIAL FROM OPTICAL STORAGE
MEDIA"
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for separation and recovery or reclamation of plastics material and in particular to an apparatus and method for separation and recovery of the components making up optical storage media products and plastic storage containers for such products.
BACKGROUND
Disk recording media, such as optical disks, have become the storage media of choice for recording music, images, information and software because of their capability of high-density recording. In particular, compact disks (CDs) and other optical disks in the CD family have been used on a large scale.
Generally a CD includes a polycarbonate substrate, an aluminium reflective film, and a protective layer deposited in that order.
Although CDs are not particularly fragile, they can be rendered unusable if the surface of the disc is scratched or marred, or a disc is otherwise chipped, cracked or broken. In order to prevent damage, it is important that a storage case be provided that will protect the disc during transportation to the consumer, and while in the possession of the consumer.
Several known compact disc storage cases exist, including the ones shown in Herr, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,445, 265; and Philosophe, U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,369. Currently the most popular type of storage case for use with an audio-containing compact disc is the so-called "jewel case" which comprises a cover member and a base member, both of which are commonly made from styrene (polystyrene). The cover and base are formed as two separate members, and are hingedly coupled together. These storage containers generally include an insert or label upon which is printed information and/or images relating to the contents of the CD. Generally the insert or label is a sheet-like material made of paper or the like.
Optical storage, media such as CDs have become so ubiquitous that they now present a disposal problem. On the other hand waste optical media also present a potentially valuable resource in terms of the plastic material from which they are formed, and in the case of some forms of optical media (eg
DVDs and writeable and rewriteable CDs), the precious metal reflective layer. Apart from the waste issue, there is also need for secure destruction of optical storage media storing sensitive information to prevent unauthorised access and/or copying of the information. This information may be confidential information or it may be copyright information or both.
Various methods have been proposed to reclaim potentially valuable material from optical storage media. These involve chemical, mechanical or a combination of mechanical and chemical treatments. In many cases, chemical solutions to the problem simply replace the waste problem caused by the optical recording media with a waste, disposal problem in terms of the disposal of spent chemicals
As far as we are aware, none of the solutions proposed thus far provide means that result in the reclamation of material not only from the optical recording medium itself, but also from the plastic container used to house the optical storage medium.
We have devised a method that allows for the recovery of plastic material from the optical storage medium itself as well as plastic material from the storage container, which method does not necessarily require the optical storage medium to be physically separated from its container prior to the recovery of the plastics material.
Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, in a first aspect, the present invention provides a method for the recovery of plastic material from a combination of:
(a) at least one optical storage medium formed at least in part from a first plastics material;
(b) at least one storage container adapted for holding said optical storage medium, the storage container being formed at least in part from a second plastics material; and (c) at least one insert, label, wrapper or the like, the method comprising:
(i) providing said optical storage medium and said storage container in the form of granules and said insert, label, wrapper or the like in the form of pieces or the like;
(ii) introducing (i) into a gas stream to separate said granules from said pieces in said gas stream; and
(iii) removing at least some of said pieces from said gas stream.
The "at least one insert, label, wrapper or the like" to which reference is herein made may be formed from any material conventionally used in optical disk labels, insert or packaging. The insert, label and/or wrapper may in the form of a sheet or a film. For example, the material may be paper sheet and/or plastic film.
The storage container may be a jewel case conventionally used to store CDs and the like, although it will be clear that the method of the present invention has application to any storage container formed from at least one plastics material.
Step (i) may be carried out at the same location as steps (ii) and (iii) or step (i) may be carried out at a remote location and transported to the site at which steps (ii) and (iii) are performed.
Accordingly, in a second aspect, the present invention provides a method for the recovery of plastic material from the combination of:
(a) at least one optical storage medium formed at least in part from a first plastics material; (b) at least one storage container adapted for holding said optical storage medium, the storage container being formed at least in part from a second plastics material; and
(c) at least one insert, label or the like, the method comprising:
(i) subjecting said optical storage medium, said storage container and said insert, label or the like to granulation to produce a granulated product comprising plastic granules and pieces of said insert, label or the like;
(ii) introducing said granulated product into a gas stream to separate said granules from said pieces in said gas stream; and
(iii) removing at least some of said pieces from said gas stream. Steps (ii) and (iii) may be repeated, preferably until substantially all the pieces are removed. The size of the granulated plastic material is preferably in the range of about 8 to 10 mm.
The first and second plastics material may be the same or different. The first plastics material may be a polycarbonate, which is conventionally used in optical disks, and the second plastics material may be a styrene polymer or copolymer and/or a ABS copolymer (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) which is conventionally used in jewel cases. Conventionally optical disk storage containers comprise three types of plastics - polystyrene, high impact polystyrene with a minor proportion of ABS. The optical storage medium may be any optical recording medium eg
CD, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, CD-DA, CD-1 and DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW and the like.
The gas stream may be an air stream.
We have further found that it is possible to separate a first plastics material from a second plastics material by submersing the two plastics materials in granulated form in a solution having a preselected specific gravity (SG).
Accordingly, the present invention provides, in a third aspect, a method for the recovery of plastics material from one or more material(s) containing at least two different plastics, the method comprising the steps of: granulating said one or more materials to produce granules of each of the different plastics materials; and submerging said granulated material in a liquid having a specific gravity equal to or falling between the specific gravity of one plastics material and selectively recovering one of the plastics materials.
The first plastics material may be an optical storage medium and the second plastics material may be a container therefor. The plastics may be laminated and the method may include a preliminary treatment to separate said laminate layers. In fourth and fifth aspects, the present invention provides a method in accordance with the first and second aspect respectively including as a further step, the method of the third aspect.
Accordingly, in another aspect, the present invention provides a method for the recovery of plastic material from a combination of: (a) at least one optical storage medium formed at least in part from a first plastics material; (b) at least one storage container adapted for holding said optical storage medium, the storage container being formed at least in part from a second plastics material; and
(c) at least one insert, label, wrapper or the like, the method comprising:
(i) providing said optical storage medium and said storage container in the form of granules and said insert, label, wrapper or the like in the form of pieces or the like;
(ii) introducing (i) into a gas stream to separate said granules from said pieces in said gas stream; and
(iii) removing at least some of said pieces from said gas stream; wherein the method further comprises submerging said separated granules in a liquid having a specific gravity equal to >or falling between the specific gravity of one of said first and second plastics material and selectively recovering one of said plastics materials.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for the recovery of plastic material from the combination of:
(a) at least one optical storage medium formed at least in part from a first plastics material; (b) at least one storage container adapted for holding said optical storage medium, the storage container being formed at least in part from a second plastics material; and
(c) at least one insert, label or the like, the method comprising: (i) subjecting said optical storage medium, said storage container and said insert, label or the like to granulation to produce a granulated product comprising plastic granules and pieces of said insert, label or the like;
(ii) introducing said granulated product into a gas stream to separate said plastic granules from said pieces in said gas stream; and
(iii) removing at least some of said pieces from said gas stream; - wherein the method further comprises submerging said separated granulated product in a liquid having a specific gravity equal to or falling between the specific gravity of one of said first and second plastics material and selectively recovering one of said plastics materials.
The liquid used in the method of the foregoing aspects of the invention may be a solution. The solution used may be a salt solution. The salt may be sodium chloride. An advantage of using sodium chloride is that a conventional dechlorinator (eg a swimming pool dechlorinator) may be used to treat the saline solution prior to disposing it to waste.
The solution may be contained in a settling tank or the like. The SG of the solution may fall in the range 1.02 to 1.2. The SG may be about 1.02.
The plastic material of the optical recording medium will usually comprise a metal film, which may be aluminium or a more valuable metal such as gold.
This metal film may be removed by subjecting granules of the first plastic to a metal recovery step. The optical recording medium may have printing thereon which may also be removed.
Accordingly, the present invention provides in further aspects respectively, a method of the fourth or fifth aspects, which further comprises a step in which a least a portion of metal associated with the separated granules of the first plastics material is recovered. The methods and apparatus of the invention extend to recovery of metals in addition to recovery of plastics.
The metal may be recovered by subjecting the separated first plastics material to wet mechanical agitation.
Preferably the wet mechanical agitation is carried out in the presence of a granular abrasive material, eg sand, to assist in the removal of printing from the surface of the granules.
The wet mechanical agitation may be performed in a hammer mill or the like.
In a further aspect, the present invention provides any plastics material and/or metal recovered by a method in accordance with the present invention. A particular advantage of the present invention is that it avoids the use of chemicals (apart from salt) in the process and so avoids the production of chemical waste that must be disposed of.
In a further aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus for the recovery of plastic material from the combination of: (a) at least one optical storage medium formed at least in part from a first plastics material;
(b) at least one storage container adapted for holding said optical storage medium, the storage container being formed at least in part from a second plastics material; and (c) at least one insert, label or wrapper, the apparatus comprising: (i) granulation means for granulating said first and second plastics material and for forming pieces of said paper or the like;
(ii) at least one column provided with a means for providing a flow of gas and means for removal of paper from the column; and (iii) a settling tank or the like containing a liquid of preselected specific gravity.
Preferably the granulation means has a set of knives or the like on a rotary stator. An example of a suitable granulator is an Olmar granulator. Preferably the granulator is equipped with a vacuum chamber below the rotary knives to prevent the paper from clogging up the screen of the granulator.
Preferably, the flow of air through the at least one column is controllable by means of a valve. Preferably the apparatus of the present invention is equipped with a plurality of columns, each of the columns communicating at or adjacent their base with an adjacent column to allow granulated plastics material to pass therebetween. Each column may be provided with an opening adjacent the top of the column to allow paper to be blown out of the column into a collection point.
The means for providing a flow of air may be at least one fan, blower or compressor or it each column may have an associated fan or blower. In one particularly preferred embodiment, a single blower provides a flow of air in each column, with the flow of air being controlled by means of a valve. An alternative to using valves is to control air flow by using columns of different diameters. For example, a 100 mm diameter pipe could be used for the first column and pipes of diameter of about 300mm could be used for the other pipes. A combination of metering valves and column diameters may be employed.
In a further aspect, the present invention provides a settling tank, the settling tank having a sloping floor, the settling tank including skimmer means for skimming off granular material floating on a liquid contained in the settling tank and screw conveyer means or the like for conveying granular material from the floor of the tank to a location above the floor of the tank.
The skimmer means may be a set of paddles or the like connected by a set of mechanically driven circular chains to provide continual skimming of the liquid surface. Whilst the present invention has been described with particular reference to optical recording media, it also has application in the treatment of other material(s), provided those materials can be granulated.
In order that the present invention may be more readily understood, we provide the following non-limiting embodiments
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the various stages of an embodiment of a method in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 is a detailed schematic drawing of an embodiment of the granulation/paper separation stage of Figure 1 ;
Figure 3 is a detailed schematic drawing of an embodiment of the plastics separation stage of Figure 1 ;
Figure 4 is a detailed schematic drawing of the separation vessel; and Figure 5 is a detailed schematic drawing of the metal recovery section of the apparatus in accordance with the invention.
Embodiments
This particular embodiment is described with particular reference to the reclamation of plastics from CDs contained in jewel cases containing paper labelling/inserts.
Referring to Figure 1 , the CDs/jewel cases/paper inserts are subjected to a "plastic granulation/paper separation" stage 10. The plastic granules, substantially free of paper, are passed to a plastics separation stage 20 in which granules of the plastic material forming the CD (polycarbonate) are separated from granules of plastic forming the jewel case (polystyrene/ABS). The polycarbonate granules are transferred to a metal separation" stage 30 in which metal and printing are separated from the polycarbonate granules.
Figure 2, shows the plastic granulation/paper separation stage shown in Figure 1. In this stage, CDs, their jewel cases and paper labelling/inserts are fed into granulator 50. Granulator 50 granulates the plastic content of the CDs and cases and tears/shreds the paper inserts/labelling into pieces.
In this particular embodiment use was made of an Olmar granulator having rotary knives supported on a rotor. The granulator was modified to include a vacuum chamber 52. An air blower 70, connected to the vacuum chamber by means of pipe 56, reduces the pressure in vacuum chamber 52 whilst transferring plastic granules/paper pieces produced in the granulator to vertical pipe 60, the first of a series of vertical pipes. Application of a vacuum to the vacuum chamber prevents paper pieces from collecting on the screen of the granulator. We have found that this arrangement allows processing of input material containing up to about 60% paper.
The paper pieces are removed from the plastic granules in a series of vertical pipes 60 to 68 which have an opening 80 feeding into an air pervious collector 85. The first pipe 60 has a diameter of 100 mm, whereas the remaining pipes 62-68 have each have a larger diameter of 300mm. Each vertical pipe communicates with an adjacent vertical pipe via a blower (72, 74, 76, 78) and pipe (73). As can be seen from Figure 2, each vertical pipe is in fluid communication with an upstream blower and a downstream blower. For example, first vertical pipe 60 is in fluid communication with upstream blower 70 and downstream blower 72. Each upstream blower provides a positive airflow to produce an airstream in the associated downstream vertical pipe. The air speed of this airstream is adjusted by means of metering valve 77, which controls the negative airflow created by the associated downstream blower. The air speed in each vertical pipe is adjusted so that only the paper pieces are entrained in the air stream and transferred to paper collector 85, whilst the plastic granules fall to the bottom of the vertical pipe. The plastic granules freed with reduces paper content are transferred to the adjacent downstream vertical pipe by means of the associated downstream blower. In this arrangement the amount of paper removed decreases progressively from the first vertical pipe to the last pipe, with most paper being removed from the first pipe and very little being removed from the last pipe.
The plastics separation section is shown in Figure 3. Plastic granules leaving the last vertical pipe 68 contain little or no paper contamination. These granules are transferred to distributor 101 by means of air flow created by blower 80. Distributor 101 is in the form of a cyclone which removes entrained air from the granulated product. The air-free granules are gravity fed to a mixing vessel or bowl 103, which is located against a side of settling tank 200. Tank 200 contains a saline solution of SG 1.02. The mixing bowl 103 is in fluid communication with the interior of the separation vessel and permits saline solution on one side of a partition (not shown) to pass into the mixing bowl and mix with the plastic granules. The mixture of plastic granules and saline is pumped by pump 123 into the settling tank via conduit 125. The SG of polystyrene is about 1.05 and that of polycarbonate is about 1.2. The polystyrene granules, being less dense than the saline solution, float to the top of the solution whilst the denser polycarbonate granules sink to the bottom of the tank.
The polystyrene granules floating on the saline solution are "grabbed" by a series of paddles 127 supported on a pair of driven circular chains 130 and moved towards outlet 140 after being sprayed with fresh water from sprayer 139 (see Figure 4). The rinsed polystyrene granules are transferred to a dryer 143 where they are dried and thereafter the dried granules are transferred to bulk storage container 145.
The denser polycarbonate granules settle on the sloping floor 160 of the settling tank and move towards well 162. The polycarbonate granules are raised by screw conveyer 164 to the top of the settling tank and the wet granules are transferred to the metal removal section as shown in Figure 4. At least some of the polycarbonate granules have thin film of a metal such as aluminium. Some of granules also have printing which has to be removed.
The wet polycarbonate is metered into a water/sand mixture contained in vessel 300 enclosing hammermill 302. The action of the hammermill removes the metal film while the sand assists in abrading the printing from the polycarbonate granules. Polycarbonate granules free of metal film and printing are removed from vessel 300 and transferred to storage container 306.
A portion of the water/sand mixture containing metal film and printing residue is pumped by pump 309 via conduit 308 to water cyclone 320, which separates out wet sand at the base of the cyclone (see Figure 5). The water/sand mixture is returned to vessel 300 by means of pump 322 via conduit 324. The metal film and printing removed by the treatment in vessel 300 floats to the top of the water cyclone and passes into collecting vessel 324 where the metal and printing are retained. Water is removed from vessel 324 and transferred to vessel 326. Water from vessel 326 is recycled by pump 328 to vessel 300 via conduit 400.
The polycarbonate and polystyrene recovered by the method described may be recycled.
Throughout this specification the word "comprise", or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps.
It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

Claims

CLAIMS:
1. A method for the recovery of plastic material from a combination of:
(a) at least one optical storage medium formed at least in part from a first plastics material;
(b) at least one storage container adapted for holding said optical storage medium, the storage container being formed at least in part from a second plastics material; and
(c) at least one insert, label, wrapper or the like, the method comprising:
(i) providing said optical storage medium and said storage container in the form of granules and said insert, label, wrapper or the like in the form of pieces or the like;
(ii) introducing (i) into a gas stream to separate said granules from said pieces in said gas stream; and
(iii) removing at least some of said pieces from said gas stream.
2. A method for the recovery of plastic material from the combination of:
(a) at least one optical storage medium formed at least in part from a first plastics material;
(b) at least one storage container adapted for holding said optical storage medium, the storage container being formed at least in part from a second plastics material; and
(c) at least one insert, label or the like, the method comprising: (i) subjecting said optical storage medium, said storage container and said insert, label or the like to granulation to produce a granulated product comprising plastic granules and pieces of said insert, label or the like;
(ii) introducing said granulated product into a gas stream to separate said granules from said pieces in said gas stream; and (iii) removing at least some of said pieces from said gas stream.
3. A method according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein steps (ii) and (iii) are repeated until substantially all of said pieces are removed from said gas stream.
4. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein step (i) is carried out at the same location as steps (ii) and (iii).
5. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein step (i) is carried out at a remote location and transported to the location of steps (ii) and (iii).
6. A method according to claim 2 or claim 3 wherein said granules or said granulated product is in the range of 8 to 10 mm.
7. A method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said first and second plastic materials are different.
8. A method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said first plastics material is polycarbonate and said second plastics material is selected from any one or a combination of a styrene polymer, styrene copolymer or an acrylonitrite-butadiene-styrene (ABS) copolymer.
9. A method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said optical storage medium is any one or a combination of a CD, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, CD-DA, CD-1 , DVD-ROM, DVD-R or DVD-RW.
10. A method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said gas stream is an air stream.
11. A method for the recovery of plastics material from one or more material(s) containing at least two different plastics, the method comprising the steps of: granulating said one or more materials to produce granules of each of the different plastics materials; and submerging said granulated material in a liquid having a specific gravity equal to or falling between the specific gravity of one of said- plastics different and selectively recovering one of said plastics materials.
12. A method according to claim 11 wherein said plastics material is a laminate of two or more layers of plastics materials.
13. A method according to claim 12 wherein said plastics material is subjected to a preliminary treatment to separate the layers of said laminate.
14. A method according to claim 11 for the selective recovery of plastics material from:
(a) at least one optical storage medium formed at least in part from a first plastics material; and
(b) at least one storage container adapted for holding said optical storage medium, the storage container being formed at least in part from a second plastics material, said second plastics material having a different specific gravity from said first plastics material, the method comprising submerging granules of said optical storage medium and said storage container in a liquid having a specific gravity equal to or falling between the specific gravity of one of said first and second plastics material and selectively recovering one of said plastics materials.
15. A method for the recovery of plastic material from a combination of:
(a) at least one optical storage medium formed at least in part from a first plastics material; (b) at least one storage container adapted for holding said optical storage medium, the storage container being formed at least in part from a second plastics material; and
(c) at least one insert, label, wrapper or the like, the method comprising: (i) providing said optical storage medium and said storage container in the form of granules and said insert, label, wrapper or the like in the form of pieces or the like;
(ii) introducing (i) into a gas stream to separate said granules from said pieces in said gas stream; and (iii) removing at least some of said pieces from said gas stream; wherein the method further comprises submerging said separated granules in a liquid having a specific gravity equal to or falling between the specific gravity of one of said first and second plastics material and selectively recovering one of said plastics materials.
16. A method for the recovery of plastic material from the combination of: (a) at least one optical storage medium formed at least in part from a first plastics material;
(b) at least one storage container adapted for holding said optical storage medium, the storage container being formed at least in part from a second plastics material; and
(c) at least one insert, label or the like, the method comprising:
(i) subjecting said optical storage medium, said storage container and said insert, label or the like to granulation to produce a granulated product comprising plastic granules and pieces of said insert, label or the like; (ii) introducing said granulated product into a gas stream to separate said plastic granules from said pieces in said gas stream; and
(iii) removing at least some of said pieces from said gas stream; wherein the method further comprises submerging said separated granulated product in a liquid having a specific gravity equal to or falling between the specific gravity of one of said first and second plastics material and selectively recovering one of said plastics materials.
17. A method according to any one of claims 14 to 16 wherein said liquid is a solution.
18. A method according to claim 14 wherein said solution is a salt solution.
19. A method according to claim 18 wherein said salt is sodium chloride.
20. A method according to any one of claims 14 to 19 wherein the specific gravity of said liquid is in the range of 1.02 to 1.2.
21. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 19 wherein the specific gravity of said liquid is about 1.02.
22. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, when applied to a plastic material of said optical recording medium incorporating a metal film, said method further comprising the step in which at least a portion of the metal associated with said plastics material is recovered.
23. A method according to claim 22 wherein said plastics material is in the form of granules or granulated product incorporating said metal.
24. A method according to claim 22 or claim 23 wherein said metal is recovered by subjecting the separated granules to wet mechanical agitation.
25. A method according to claim 24 wherein said wet mechanical agitation is carried out in the presence of a granular abrasive material.
26. A method according to claim 25 wherein said granular abrasive material is sand.
27. A method according to any one of claims 24 to 26 wherein said wet mechanical agitation is performed in a hammer mill.
28. A plastic material recovered by the method according to any one of the preceding claims.
29. A metal recovered by the method according to any one of claims 22 to 27.
30. An apparatus for the recovery of plastic material from the combination of: (a) at least one optical storage medium formed at least in part from a first plastics material; (b) at least one storage container adapted for holding said optical storage medium, the storage container being formed at least in part from a second plastics material; and
(c) at least one insert, label or wrapper, the apparatus comprising:
(i) granulation means for granulating said first and second plastics material and for forming pieces of said paper or the like;
(ii) at least one column provided with a means for providing a flow of gas and means for removal of paper from said column; and
(iii) a settling tank or the like containing a liquid of preselected specific gravity.
31. An apparatus according to claim 30 wherein said granulation means includes a set of knives or the like on a rotary stator.
32. An apparatus according to claim 30 or claim 31 wherein said granulation means is equipped with a vacuum chamber positioned below said rotary knives.
33. An apparatus according to any one of claims 30 to 32 wherein the flow of gas through at least one column is controllable by means of a valve.
34. An apparatus according to any one of claims 30 to 32 wherein said apparatus is equipped with a plurality of columns, each of said columns communicating at or adjacent their base with an adjacent column to allow granulated plastics material to pass therebetween.
35. An apparatus according to claim 34 wherein the flow of gas through said plurality of columns is controlled by using columns of different diameters.
36. An apparatus according to claim 34 wherein the flow of gas through said plurality of columns is controlled by the use of a combination of valves and columns of different diameters.
37. An apparatus according to any one of claims 30 to 36 wherein each said column is provided with an opening adjacent the top thereof to allow paper to be blown out of said column into a collection point.
38. An apparatus according to any one of claims 30 to 37 wherein said gas is air.
39. An apparatus according to claim 38 wherein the flow of air may be provided by at least one fan, blower, compressor or the like. -
40. An apparatus according to claim 39 wherein each said column has an associated fan, blower, compressor or the like.
41. An apparatus according to any one of claims 30 to 40 wherein said settling tank has a sloping floor and skimmer means for skimming off granular material flowing on a surface of a liquid contained in said settling tank and a screw conveyor means or the like for conveying said granular material from the floor of said tank to a location above the floor of said tank.
42. An apparatus according to claim 41 wherein said skimmer means are a set of paddles or the like connected by a set of mechanically driven circular chains to provide a continual skimming of said liquid surface.
43. An apparatus according to any one of claims 30 to 42 when used in accordance with the method of any one of claims 1 to 27.
44. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 27 substantially as hereinbefore described with particular reference to the preferred embodiments.
45. An apparatus according to any one of claims 30 to 43 substantially as hereinbefore described with particular reference to the figures and/or the preferred embodiments.
PCT/AU2002/001280 2001-09-18 2002-09-18 Recovery of plastics material from optical storage media WO2003024603A1 (en)

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