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In 1879, Theodore B. Osborne proposed a system for separating light weight constituents from ground wheat grains. In passing wheat under a rubber roller electrified by friction against a felt pad, chaff was attracted. In 1880, Osborne’s machine became the first patented Electrostatic Separator in the United States.
Building on Osborne’s technique, Thomas Edison later developed a lesser-known gold-quartz separator. Using a horizontal feed belt and a shaking head pulley to keep the layer of pulverized ore agitated, the particles were exposed to a suspended electrified plate. The quartz particles were inductively attracted towards the plate while the gold particles dropped underneath. Edison’s invention of an "electrostatic inductive attractor" for small dielectric particles paved the way for future developments in electrostatic separation.
From Osborne to Thomas Edison to Outotec, electrostatic separation technology has steadily evolved. The foundation of our knowledge was built on electrostatic separation. Carpco® "high tension" separators were developed for concentrating titanium minerals in the mineral sands of Florida in the 1950’s. In the late 1970’s, the electrostatic separators were introduced for separating materials in other markets such as chopped wire and plastics recycling. Today, we have harnessed the natural principles of electrostatic separation. We offer a full line of laboratory and industrial electrostatic separators designed to meet your separation challenges.
| Selection Guide |
| Equipment |
Particle Size Range |
Maximum Capacity |
Electrostatic Principle |
| Roll-Type Electrostatic |
12.0-0.074mm |
150 kg/h |
Ion Bombardment |
| Pilot-Scale for Recycling (HTE) |
10-1mm
(½-16mesh) |
0.5 t/h |
Ion Bombardment |
| Pilot-Scale for Minerals (HTP) |
1000-75mm
(16-200mesh) |
1.0 t/h |
Ion Bombardment |
| Plate-Type Electrostatic |
1000-75mm
(16-200mesh) |
75 kg/h |
Conductive Induction |
| T-Stat® for Minerals |
1000-75mm
(16-200mesh) |
0.5 t/h |
Triboelectric |
| Pilot-Scale |
1000-75mm
(16-200mesh) |
5-10 t/h |
Triboelectric |
| T-Stat® for Recycling Plastics |
10-1mm
(½-16 mesh) |
0.75 t/h |
Triboelectric |
| Pilot-Scale |
10-1mm
(½-16mesh) |
1 t/h |
Triboelectric |
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