Abstract

It is difficult to detect small foreign objects such as hair and soft plastics in dry foods. In our laboratory, an electrostatic separator of small foreign objects in dry foods was developed. The separator consists of a grounded inclined rotating drum, a cylindrical electrode fixed at the centre of the drum, and a suction device. The principle of the separation is based on the difference in the charge per unit mass of the dry food and foreign objects. Although it was found that it is possible to obtain a high purity and a high recovery rate of foods using this separator, the understanding of the separation mechanism is still limited. In this study, we numerically investigated the separation behaviours of foreign objects and dry foods in the inclined rotating drum. The behaviours of the foreign objects and dry foods were calculated, considering the electrostatic force. The electric field strength was calculated by the finite difference method. The effect of the inclination angle of the rotating drum on the trajectory of the particles to be separated was investigated. To examine the validity of the calculation method, the experimental result was compared with the calculated result.