Solid material comminution or disintegration – Processes
Patent
1996-09-19
1999-08-17
Rosenbaum, Mark
Solid material comminution or disintegration
Processes
241 3, 241 19, 241 23, 241 2414, 241 2418, B02C 1918
Patent
active
059381280
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention concerns a process and an apparatus for treating composite elements comprising solid organic and/or inorganic composite materials such as composites of metal/metal, plastic/plastic, metal/plastic or mineral composites with metals and/or plastics.
Composite elements of that kind are for example tin-plated copper conductor tracks of circuit arrangements, fibre-reinforced plastic materials or copper-plated aluminium wires in co-extruded or laminated form. Thus metal-metal composites--for example in the case of coaxial cables--primarily comprise a metal carrier, for example an aluminium wire, with a galvanically or thermally applied copper layer, while plastic-plastic laminates, in the situation of use involving packaging foil for foodstuffs, comprise a plastic carrier formed by polyamides (PA) with polyethylene (PE) which is co-extruded therewith, laminated therewith or applied thereto by a lining procedure. Plastic-metal composites are also joined together by a lining or laminating procedure, for example in the case of a glass fibre epoxy plate as a carrier with the application of copper as a base material for printed circuits. Metal-plastic composites include inter alia a carrier of aluminium sheet with a protective foil stuck thereon comprising polypropylene (PP) for facing or facade panels and weather-protective cladding arrangements.
Those composite elements give rise to problems in particular in terms of disposal as hitherto the materials in the composite have not been separated. Nowadays those composite elements are almost exclusively dumped or burnt--which is not environmentally friendly--and they are thus taken out of economic circulation.
The composite elements which in future will have to be disposed of in an orderly fashion include in particular also residues from the packaging sector. It is precisely in that area that co-extruded and laminated products have hitherto been irreplaceable as the materials in the composite have in combination excellent packaging properties.
In the conventional processing procedure, the composite element is broken up by way of the grain or particle size which is smaller than the respective layer thickness of the components. This breaking-up operation is generally effected by using an at least one-stage very fine crushing operation using suitable mills, for example hammer, impact or counter-flow mills, possibly with the assistance of nitrogen for inerting and deep-freezing purposes.
The object of the present invention is to develop a process and an apparatus of the kind set forth in the opening part of this specification, with which composite elements can be so treated that valuable substances can be recovered; a further aim of the invention is that the composite materials can be put back into economic circulation, without adversely affecting the environment.
That object is attained by the teachings of the independent claims; the appendant claims set forth advantageous developments.
In the process according to the invention, solid particles are produced from the above-mentioned composite elements and the particles are fed to a transport fluid such as air, wherein at least one flow obstacle which crosses the flow of the mixture of solid particles and transport fluid is moved relative to said flow as a flow-breakaway edge for forming downstream eddies which acceleratedly break up the mixture. When the mixture passes into those eddies, that involves both a sudden increase in the acceleration of the solid particles and also causes them to be rubbed against each other, thereby breaking them up.
For that purpose it has been found desirable for the mixture of transport fluid and solid particles to be fed to the separation or breaking-up procedure at the flow-breakaway edge or edges with an acceleration of 20 to 25 m/sec.sup.2 after the composite elements to be treated have been reduced in size--preferably to a grain size of 5 mm to 30 nm--or have been compacted prior to the separation or breaking-up procedure.
The composite substances to be treated by this proces
REFERENCES:
patent: 2561388 (1951-07-01), Lykken et al.
patent: 3071330 (1963-01-01), Jackering
Engel Rudolf
Muther Christoph
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