Application of Mineral Processing Techniques for Recyling, 2000 Recycling Symposium Proceedings

Roe-Hoan Yoon--The minerals industry uses a variety of methods for separating one type of material from another. Most of them are based on exploiting the differences in the physical and physiochemical properties of the materials to be separated. Therefore, the separation methods used in the minerals industry are substantially cheaper and environmentally safer to use than the more sophisticated methods involving chemical reactions often at elevated temperatures and pressures. For processing raw materials that are mostly of low value, the cost and environmental factors play decisive roles for selecting appropriate separation methods. This would be true for the case of recovering materials from wastes. Therefore, it is not surprising that many of the separation methods that are currently used in the recycling industry are similar to those that have been originally developed for the minerals industry. This communication reviews some of the mineral processing techniques that are used or studied for potential applications for the recycling of municipal solid wastes, automobile scraps, waste plastics, and secondary paper fibers.