Set point identification of a tribocharging process for mixed granular solids

Identification of the optimal operating conditions is a critical issue for the industrial application of tribocharging techniques. The aim of this paper is to formulate a set of recommendations regarding the choice of tray length, vibration amplitude and material feed-rate values for a vibratory-type tribocharger. The study was carried out on a laboratory vibratory feeder with granular plastics originating from waste electrical and electronic equipment. Several one-factor-at-a-time experiments followed by a composite factorial experiment were performed based on a two-step strategy: 1) identifying the domain of variation of the controlled variables; 2) finding the best choice of the set point.