Dry fractionation of plant material powders using an electrostatic corona separator: a model study

Claire Mayer (1) , Andy Cadin (1) , Sara Messal (2) , Lucian Dascalescu (2) , Xavier Rouau (1)

1 UMR IATE - Ingénierie des Agro-polymères et Technologies Émergentes
2 PPrime [Poitiers] - Institut Pprime [UPR 3346]

In a dry bioreffinery scheme, the separation of plant materials into fractions of interest compound is a crucial step. In recent years, electrostatic separation of agri-resources has sparked a growing interest for its potential but optimization efforts remain to be done especially in case of fine powders. The present work is an experimental investigation of factors, which influence the separation process of plant biomass powders in a custom built corona electrostatic separator with view to optimization. Three particle size classes of cork, semolina and wood powders have been characterized in term of charge decay curves and their behavior on the device have been studied. Separation tests of a blend constituted of 1g of wood powder and 1g of semolina have also been conducted with very promising results.

Mots clés: Lignocellulose fractionation; Corona discharge; Electrical charge; Electrostatic separation; fractionation; powder; cork; semolina; Powder separation

Mots clés: semoule; liège; sciure de bois; poudre; taille de particules; procédé de séparation; fractionnement; biomasse végétale

Domaines: Mécanique des matériaux [physics.class-ph]; Ingénierie des aliments

Claire Mayer, Andy Cadin, Sara Messal, Lucian Dascalescu, Xavier Rouau. Dry fractionation of plant material powders using an electrostatic corona separator: a model study. 5. International Conference on Green Process Engineering GPE2016, Jun 2016, Mont Tremblant, Canada. Engineering Conferences International, ECI Symposium Series, 16AG, 2016, ECI Symposium Series. ⟨hal-01604381⟩