Separation of Disentangled Textile Fibres
Using the triboelectric effect to separate protein fibres from synthetic textile material
How to keep the valuable component of blended textiles eg. wool and silk in a sustainable way?
Apply Triboelectric Effect in Separation Process
Fibre disentangler
Sliver cuts are first made to each individual fibre
Copper helix pipes
Copper is an appropriate choice of material in the triboelectric series with good grounding properties.
When fibres rub against copper pipes, protein fibres are positively charged while synthetic fibres are negatively charged.
Electrodes
Two high potential plate electrodes of opposing polarity are used to attract the 2 types of fibres, thus fibre separation.
Award
Silver Medal in Special Edition 2021 Inventions Geneva Evaluation Days
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