IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO.

4, JULY/AUGUST 2008 1045

Tribocharging of Granular Plastic Mixtures in

View of Electrostatic Separation
Laur Calin, Lucian Caliap, Vasile Neamtu, Roman Morar, Senior Member, IEEE,
Alexandru Iuga, Senior Member, IEEE, Adrian Samuila, and Lucian Dascalescu, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract—The output of any electrostatic separation process is

strongly dependent on the effectiveness of particle charging. A
novel laboratory-scale fluidized-bed tribocharging device has been
described in a previous paper. The aim of this paper is to assess
the effectiveness of two materials, aluminum and polypropylene
(PP), that could be employed in the tribocharging chamber of that
device. The electrostatic separation experiments designed for this
purpose were carried out on three samples of a granular poly-
ethylene/polyvinyl chloride mixture, characterized by different
compositions. Aluminum and PP were found to be equally effective
for the triboelectrostatic separation of the 50% PVC 50% PE
sample. For the other two samples (10% PVC 90% PE, 90% PVC
10% PE), the best results were obtained with the PP tribocharging
chamber.
Index Terms—Electrostatic separation, tribocharging.

I. I NTRODUCTION

R ECOVERY of plastic materials from granular industrial

wastes is one of the main applications of the electrostatic
separation [1]–[3]. Corona-electrostatic separators [4], [5] are
Fig. 1. Fluidized-bed device for the tribocharging of plastic granules.

materials, or the contaminates of a plastic product are noncon-

employed for removing conducting contaminates, in order to
obtain pure plastic products. Triboelectrostatic separation [6]
is the solution when the granular waste consists of two plastic
Paper MSDAD-07-41, presented at the 2005 Industry Applications Society
Annual Meeting, Hong Kong, October 2–6, and approved for publication in
the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS by the Electro-
static Processes Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society.
Manuscript submitted for review October 31, 2005 and released for publication
November 2, 2007. Published July 23, 2008 (projected). This work was
supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid from the Romanian Ministry of Education
and Research.
L. Calin, V. Neamtu, R. Morar, and A. Iuga are with the High-Intensity Elec-
tric Fields Laboratory, ELMA Center, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca,
400020 Cluj-Napoca, Romania (e-mail: laurflorentincalin@yahoo.com;
Vasile.Neamtu@et.utcluj.ro; Roman.Morar@et.utcluj.ro; Alexandru.Iuga@
et.utcluj.ro).
L. Caliap was with the Laboratory of Automatics and Industrial Infor-
matics, University of Poitiers, University Institute of Technology, 16021
Angoulême, France. He is now with the Grenoble Electrical Engineering
Laboratory, University Joseph Fourier, 38042 Grenoble, France (e-mail: lucian.
caliap@gmail.com).
A. Samuila was with the Laboratory of Automatics and Industrial
Informatics, University of Poitiers, University Institute of Technology, 16021
Angoulême, France. He is now with the High-Intensity Electric Fields Re-
search Laboratory, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, 400020 Cluj-Napoca,
Romania (e-mail: asamuila@iutang.univ-poitiers.fr).
L. Dascalescu was with the Laboratory of Automatics and Industrial
Informatics, University of Poitiers, University Institute of Technology, 16021
Angoulême, France. He is now with the Electrostatics of Dispersed Media
Research Unit, Laboratory of Aerodynamic Studies, University of Poitiers,
University Institute of Technology, 16021 Angoulême, France (e-mail:
ldascalescu@iutang.univ-poitiers.fr).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIA.2008.926689
0093-9994/$25.00 © 2008 IEEE
ducting in nature [7]–[9].
In these cases, the granular mixture to be separated is first
introduced in a triboelectrification device: a fluidized bed, a
cyclone, a vibratory feeder, or a rotary drum [7], then passed
through an electrostatic field, generated by an appropriate
electrode system. The electric forces acting on the differently
charged granules drive them to separate collecting compart-
ments. The output of the electrostatic separation process is
strongly dependent on the effectiveness of particle charging. In
a previous paper, the authors presented an original fluidized-
bed device and evaluated its charging performances on several
types of granular plastics [9].
Therefore, the aim of this paper is to assess the effectiveness
of two materials [aluminum and polypropylene (PP)] that could
be employed in the tribocharging chamber of that device.
II. F LUIDIZED -B ED T RIBOCHARGING D EVICE
The fluidized-bed tribocharging device developed by the
authors [9] has the following distinctive features (Fig. 1):
1) transparent walls to observe the fluidization process; 2) air
distributors with different mesh apertures correlated with gran-
ule size; 3) modular design, facilitating the quick replacement
of the standard tribocharging chamber (PP) with other metallic
(aluminum, copper) or nonmetallic chambers [polyvinyl chlo-
ride (PVC), polyethylene (PE), and polyethylene terephthalate
(PET)]; and 4) dual operation mode: independent operation, for
granule charge measurement, or integrated operation, for the
electrostatic separation experiments using a free fall electro-
static separator.
1046 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 2008
TABLE I
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PET AND PVC
GRANULES USED IN EXPERIMENTS
In such devices, tribocharging is due to two mechanisms:
particle–particle and particle–wall collisions. The ratio H/D ≥
20, where H is the height of fluidization volume (distance
between air distributor and air output screen) and D equivalent
diameter of the cross-sectional area [9], was chosen to facilitate
the study of both tribocharging mechanisms.
The granular material is introduced in the input–output mod-
ule and is deposited on the screen-type air distributor. The air
jet, generated with variable speed by a turboblower, passes
through the air inlet pipe in the air chamber. The screen-
type air distributor quasi-uniformly disperses the air throughout
the cross section of the triboelectrification chamber. In the
fluidized-bed state generated by the ascending air, the gran-
ules are dispersed in the triboelectrification chamber volume,
where multiple particle–particle and particle–wall collisions
take place. The particles are maintained in the fluidized state for
less than 90 s, which was found to be enough for triboelectrifi-
cation. Through an output door driving mechanism, the charged
granules flow on an inclined plane and enter in a Faraday cup
for charge measuring or between the electrodes of a free fall
electrostatic separator.
III. M ATERIALS AND M ETHOD
The triboelectrostatic separation experiments were per-
formed on virgin PET and PVC granules, used in the plastics in-
dustry. Selective sorting of these materials is difficult to achieve
with classical air–gravity or sink–float separation techniques,
as they have similar mass densities (Table I). The analysis of
separation results was facilitated by using parallelipiped shape
PET granules (2.5 × 2 × 2 mm) and disk shape PVC granules
(∅4.5×1.4 mm) that also differ in color. The granule mass was
calculated as the mass of group of 100 granules divided by 100.
Three types of samples (mass of a sample: 50 g) were pre-
pared as binary mixtures with different compositions (Fig. 2). In
order to evaluate the reproducibility of the results, 14 samples
of each type were employed in the experiments.
The experimental installation (Fig. 3) consisted of a free fall
separator equipped with two dc high-voltage supplies (V1 =
−50 kV, V2 = +75 kV), the fluidized-bed device 1, and a tur-
boblower 2 supplied by a variable autotransformer 3. In all the
experiments, the plate electrodes (height: 1000; width: 200 mm)
were in vertical position spaced at 225 mm, with the granular
mixture inlet and the splitter at 75 and 95 mm, respectively,
from the positive electrode. The inlet device is aligned to the
upper edge of the plate electrodes and is designed so that to
reduce the speed at which the particles enter the electric field.
Two tribocharging chambers were tested: one of aluminum
and the other of PP. The aluminum chamber and the external
metallic coating of the PP chamber were connected to the
ground. In a previous paper, the authors presented an experi-
mental triboelectric series [9] putting in evidence the position
of aluminum, PET, PVC and PP—the four materials involved
in the experiments.
As in this series (Fig. 4), PP is located between PVC and
PET; the use of a PP chamber may be advantageous for the
opposite charging of PET and PVC. On the other hand, the
aluminum chamber has a stable tribocharging behavior and
presents a higher wear resistance to particle–wall collisions and
friction.
Prior to each experiment, the particles were subjected to an ac
corona discharge, in order to eliminate any initial charge. Parti-
cle residence time in the fluidized-bed device was 90 s. The flu-
idization air, generated by the turboblower, was characterized
by constant temperature (38 ◦ C) and relative humidity (26%),
measured at the exit of the triboelectric chamber. The ambient
conditions during the electrostatic separation experiments were
rather stable
T = 22 ◦ C−25 ◦ C, RH = 44%−46%.
The tribocharging efficiency was analyzed by electrosepa-
ration of the granular mixture in the free fall equipment. The
PET granules having a positive charge were deviated toward
the negative electrode, and the PVC particles were collected at
the positive electrode.
In the case of the 50% PVC 50% PET samples, the efficiency
of the triboelectrostatic separation was assessed by analyzing
the composition of the PET concentrate, which is the most valu-
able of the recovered materials. In the other cases, the analysis
was performed on the concentrate containing the material that
represented 90% in the feed samples.
The difference in color between the PVC (yellow) and PET
(white) granules facilitated the analysis of the collected materi-
als. The mass of the PVC contaminants in the PET concentrate
and that of the PET contaminants in the PVC concentrate were
determined by counting the respective particles and multiplying
their number by the average mass given in Table I.
The following performance indices were computed for each
triboelectrostatic separation test (Fig. 5).
1) PVC recovery
mPVC = 100 CPVC /APVC [%].
2) PET recovery
mPET = 100 BPET /APET [%].
3) PET purity
bPET = 100 BPET /(BPET + BPVC ) [%].
4) PVC purity
cPVC = 100 CPVC /(CPET + BPVC ) [%].
CALIN et al.: TRIBOCHARGING OF GRANULAR PLASTIC MIXTURES IN VIEW OF ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION
Fig. 2. Different compositions of the samples used in tribocharging and electrostatic separation tests. 1—PET granule. 2—rigid PVC granule. 3—carbon lead of
0.5-mm diameter used as reference for estimate the size of plastic granules.
Fig. 3. Free fall electrostatic separator with integrated fluidized-bed tribo-
charging device. 1—tribocharging device. 2—turboblower. 3—variable auto-
transformer. 4—electrostatic separator inlet. 5—plate electrodes 1000 ×
200 mm. 6—positioning panel. 7—dielectric splitter.
Fig. 4. Triboelectric series for the chamber materials (Al, PP) and the plastic
granules (PVC, PET) used in experiments.
1047
Fig. 5. Schematic representation of the electrostatic separation process.
APET(PVC) : mass of PET (PVC) in the feed. BPET(PVC) : mass of PET
(PVC) in the PET concentrate. CPET(PVC) : mass of PET(PVC) in PVC
concentrate. bPET , mPET , cPVC , and mPVC are defined in the text.
IV. R ESULTS
A. Tribocharging in Aluminum Chamber
The results of the experiments carried out on seven samples
of a 10% PET 90% PVC granular mixture are given in Table II,
which also contains the average values and the standard devia-
tions of PVC purity and PVC recovery of the separated product
(i.e., PVC concentrate).
Tables III and IV present the average values and the standard
deviations of PET purity and PET recovery calculated from the
results of seven triboelectrostatic separation tests carried out for
each of the two other types of samples: 50% PET 50% PVC and
10% PVC 90% PET granular mixtures.
B. Tribocharging in PP Chamber
The average values and the standard deviation of PVC purity
and PVC recovery of the PVC concentrate obtained from the
10% PET 90% PVC mixture using the PP chamber are given in
Tables V, VI, and VII show the results of the triboelectrostatic
separation experiments performed with the 50%PET 50%PVC
and 10% PVC 90% PET granular mixtures, respectively.
1048 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 2008
TABLE II
PVC CONCENTRATE OBTAINED BY ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION
OF 10% PET 90% PVC M IXTURE , T RIBOCHARGED 90 s
IN AN A LUMINUM C HAMBER
TABLE III
PET CONCENTRATE OBTAINED BY ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION
OF 50% PET 50% PVC M IXTURE , T RIBOCHARGED 90 s
IN AN A LUMINUM C HAMBER
TABLE IV
PET CONCENTRATE OBTAINED BY ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION
OF 90% PET 10% PVC M IXTURE , T RIBOCHARGED 90 s
IN AN A LUMINUM C HAMBER
TABLE V
PVC CONCENTRATE OBTAINED BY ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF 10%
PET 90% PVC MIXTURE, TRIBOCHARGED 90 s IN A PP CHAMBER
V. D ISCUSSION
The experimental conditions were established from a series
of preliminary experiments carried out with similar granular
materials [9]. No techniques for the design of experiments were
employed for optimizing the output of the triboelectrostatic
separation process. Therefore, the fact that the PVC concentrate
obtained with the Al-tube tribocharging device has a higher
purity than the one obtained with the PP-tube (Fig. 6) does
not necessarily mean that the former device is better than the
TABLE VI
PET CONCENTRATE OBTAINED BY ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF 50%
PET 50% PVC MIXTURE, TRIBOCHARGED 90 s IN A PP CHAMBER
TABLE VII
PET CONCENTRATE OBTAINED BY ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF 90%
PET 10% PVC MIXTURE, TRIBOCHARGED 90 s IN A PP CHAMBER
Fig. 6. Quality of the PVC concentrates obtained by electrostatic separation
of the 10% PET and 90% PVC samples, after tribocharging in aluminum and
PP chambers.
latter. Thus, according to the data represented in Fig. 6, PVC
recovery is better with the PP-tube, which might suggest that
this tribocharging device should be preferred to the one using
the Al-tube. Similar observations lead to similar conclusions in
the case of the PET concentrate obtained from the 10% PVC
90% PET mixture (Fig. 7).
The problem is that the results obtained with the 50% PVC
50% PET mixture contradict this recommendation: The PET
purity and PET recovery were poorer in the case when tribo-
charging was performed with the PP-tube (Fig. 8).
Such apparent contradictions can easily be explained by
the fact that all the experiments were performed under the
same operational conditions. With this in mind, the only valid
conclusion is that the chosen set point of the triboelectrostatic
CALIN et al.: TRIBOCHARGING OF GRANULAR PLASTIC MIXTURES IN VIEW OF ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION 1049

Fig. 7. Quality of the PET concentrates obtained by electrostatic separation

of the 90% PET and 10% PVC sample, after tribocharging in aluminum and PP
chambers.

Fig. 9. Schematic representation of the tribocharging mechanisms of PET and

PVC particles in the Al-tube device.

Fig. 8. Quality of the PET concentrates obtained by electrostatic separation

of the 50% PET and 50% PVC samples, after tribocharging in aluminum and
PP chambers.

separation process is more favorable for the Al-tube device,

than for the PP-tube device.
In fact, fluidized-bed charging is based on three mechanisms
(Figs. 9 and 10): particle–wall collisions (case A), collisions
between particles of different material (case B), and collisions
between particles of the same material (case C). The sign and
the magnitude of the charge accumulated on each particle are Fig. 10. Schematic representation of the tribocharging mechanisms of PET
given by the combined action of these mechanisms. and PVC particles in the PP-tube device.
The configuration of the tribocharging chamber (a long
cylinder of relatively small diameter) favors the particle–wall by colliding with particles of the other material of a binary
contacts. This mechanism plays an important part in the tri- mixture.
bocharging of 10% PVC 90% PET, and 90% PVC 10% PET The particle–wall collisions influence also the charging of
granular mixtures. Indeed, the material representing 90% in the particles in 50% PVC 50% PET mixtures, as demonstrated
the mass of a sample has a lower probability of charging by the difference in the results obtained with the Al-tube and
1050 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 2008
PP-tube device. However, in this case, the collisions between
different particles are the main mechanism. Otherwise, in
the Al-tube, both PET and PVC particles charge negatively
(see the triboelectric series in Fig. 4) and are attracted to the
same electrode.
The lower PET recovery when using the PP-tube tribocharg-
ing device can be explained as follows. In the Al-tube device,
the PET granules that collide the wall of the tribocharging
chamber acquire a negative charge (Fig. 4) and are attracted
to the positive electrode, together with the PVC particles. In the
PP-tube device, all PET granules charge positively, either by
particle–wall impact or by collision with PVC particles. Due
to the synergetic action of these two mechanisms, some of the
PET particles acquire a higher positive charge and are strongly
attracted to the negative electrode. Thus, the impact with that
electrode can occur very soon after particle penetration in the
electric field. Such an impact will deviate the PET particle to
the opposite electrode. In this way, the mass of the PET particles
recovered at the negative electrode will diminish.
The variability of the measured data (Tables II–VII) is mainly
due to granule size nonhomogeneity and to the presence of
contaminants (dust, humidity) at the surface of the granules.
Material conditioning (sizing, drying) prior to introducing
into the tribocharging device is a prerequisite for a good
separation.
VI. C ONCLUSION
The design of the fluidized-bed tribocharging device pre-
sented in this paper facilitates the study of the charging
mechanisms of granular mixtures characterized by various
compositions.
The charge acquired by any particle is the outcome of
three different mechanisms: particle–wall collisions, collisions
between particles of different material, and collisions between
particles of the same material. Most of the charge comes from
the collisions between particles made of different materials.
The effect of particle–wall collisions is significant when the
composition of the mixture is 10% PVC 90% PET or 90% PVC
10% PET.
By appropriately choosing the material employed in the tri-
bocharging chamber, it is possible to improve the performances
of such electrostatic separation processes.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Engr. M. Blajan for the
experimental help, as well as of their students N. Serban and
C. Stefanache.
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Netherlands: Kluwer, 1999, pp. 77–87.
[5] A. Iuga, R. Morar, A. Samuila, and L. Dascalescu, “Electrostatic separation
of metals and plastics from granular industrial wastes,” Proc. Inst. Electr.
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[6] B. A. Kwetkus, “Particle triboelectrification and its use in the electro-
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Jan. 1998.
[7] G. S. P. Castle, “Contact charging between insulators,” J. Electrostat.,
vol. 40/41, pp. 13–20, Jun. 1997.
[8] G. Dodbiba, A. Shibayama, T. Miyazaki, and T. Fujita, “Triboelectrostatic
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[9] A. Iuga, L. Calin, V. Neamtu, A. Mihalcioiu, and L. Dascalescu, “Tribo-
charging of plastics granulates in a fluidized bed device,” J. Electrostat.,
vol. 63, no. 6–10, pp. 937–942, Jun. 2005.
Laur Calin received the M.S. and Advanced
Studies degrees in electronics and telecommunica-
tions engineering and the Ph.D. degree in elec-
trical engineering, with a thesis on the particle
tribochargingeb phenomena in electrostatic separa-
tion processes, from the Technical University of
Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 1997, 1998,
and 2008, respectively. His thesis was jointly spon-
sored by the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
and the University of Poitiers, Poitiers, France.
He is currently with the High-Intensity Electric
Fields Laboratory, ELMA Center, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca. His
research interests are triboelectrostatic effects, corona charging of particulates,
and optimization of electrostatic separation processes.
Lucian Caliap received the M.S. degree in elec-
trical engineering from the Technical University of
Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 2005. His
graduate research work was carried out at the Elec-
tronics and Electrostatics Research Unit, University
Institute of Technology, Angoulême, France, within
the framework of the ERASMUS student mobility
programme, financed by the European Community.
He then enrolled in a Master program at the Uni-
versity of Poitiers, Poitiers, France, and prepared a
dissertation on the tribocharging of pulverulent ma-
terials and triboelectrostatic separation technologies. He is currently working
toward the Ph.D. degree focusing on the field of high-voltage engineering in
the Grenoble Electrical Engineering Laboratory, University Joseph Fourier,
Grenoble, France, with a scholarship jointly sponsored by AREVA T&D and
the French Government.
Vasile Neamtu received the M.S. degree in electrical
engineering and the Dr. Eng. degree in electrical
technologies from the Technical University of Cluj-
Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 1975 and 2000,
respectively.
After six years spent in industry, as a Research
and Development Engineer, he moved to the Tech-
nical University of Cluj-Napoca, first as Teaching
Assistant, then a Lecturer. Since 2001, has been an
Associate Professor with the Electrical Engineering
Department. He has coauthored more than 20 papers,
most of them related to the design of the electrodes and the high-voltage
supplies of electrostatic separators of granular mixtures, with applications in
the field of mineral processing and recycling industry.
CALIN et al.: TRIBOCHARGING OF GRANULAR PLASTIC MIXTURES IN VIEW OF ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION
Roman Morar (M’93–SM’99) received the M.Sc.
degree in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic
Institute of Petrograd, Petrograd, Russia, in 1957,
the Ph.D. degree from the Polytechnic Institute of
Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania, in 1976, and the
M.Sc. degree in economics from the University of
Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 1978.
In 1963, after several years in industry, he joined
the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Technical
University of Cluj-Napoca. From 1976 to 1982, he
was Vice-Dean, and, from 1982 to 1990, he was
Dean of the Faculty. Until his retirement in 1997, he was also Head of the
Division of Electrotechnics and Electrical Machines. He contributed to the
development of the High-Intensity Electric Fields Laboratory and continues to
take an active part, as Professor Emeritus, in many of its research projects.
He visited the University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany, with a Research
Fellowship offered by the German Academy of Science and the Beijing
Institute of Technology, as a guest of the Academia Sinica (China). He is
the coauthor of several books and more than 80 papers, and the holder of
15 patents.
Dr. Morar is Vice-President of the Electrostatics Society of Romania, and a
member of the Electrostatics Society of America and the New York Academy
of Science.
Alexandru Iuga (M’93–SM’99) received the M.S.
degree in electromechanical engineering from the
Mining Institute of Petrosani, Petrosani, Romania, in
1966, the M.S. degree in physics from the University
of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 1974,
and the Doctor of Engineering degree in fundamen-
tals of electrical engineering from the Polytechnical
Institute of Iasi, Iasi, Romania, in 1984.
Since 1968, he has been with the Technical
University of Cluj-Napoca, where he is currently
Professor Emeritus with the Department of Electrical
Engineering and Head of the High-Intensity Electric Fields Laboratory. He
has visited several universities in Poland, France, Italy, the U.K. and the
U.S. He was the Invited Speaker at the Electrostatic Processes Commit-
tee Meeting of the IEEE Industry Applications Society, New Orleans, LA,
September 25, 2007. He is the coauthor of several books, more than 70 technical
papers, and is the holder of ten patents on electrical separation equipment and
technology.
Dr. Iuga is a member of the Electrostatics Society of America and a
Cofounder of the Electrostatics Society of Romania.
1051
Adrian Samuila received the M.S. degree in elec-
trical engineering and the Dr. Eng. degree in elec-
trical technologies from the Technical University of
Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 1980 and
1997, respectively, and the Dr. Sci. degree in physics
from the University of Grenoble, Grenoble, France,
in 1997.
After ten years spent in industry, as a Research and
Development Engineer, he moved to the Technical
University of Cluj-Napoca, first as a Lecturer, and
then an Associate Professor. Since 2005, he has been
a Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department. In 1994, 1996, and
1997, he received Research Scholarships from the Laboratory of Electrostatics
and Dielectric Materials, Grenoble, where he studied the action of high-
intensity electric fields on granular materials. He has coauthored more than
20 papers in the field of electrostatic separation of granular mixtures, showing a
special interest for the study of particle charging phenomena: corona discharge,
triboelectrostatic effects, and electrostatic induction. Since 2002, he has been
the holder of a Visiting Associate Professor position at the University Institute
of Technology, Angoulême, France.
Dr. Samuila was the Secretary of the First Annual Meeting of the Electrostat-
ics Society of Romania, organized in 1995 by the High-Intensity Electric Fields
Laboratory, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca.
Lucian Dascalescu (M’93–SM’95) received the
M.S. degree (Hons.) in electrical engineering from
the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-
Napoca, Romania, in 1978, the Dr. Eng. degree in
electrotechnical materials from the Polytechnic Insti-
tute of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania, in 1991, and
the Dr. Sci. degree and the “Habilitation à Diriger de
Recherches” diploma both in physics from the Uni-
versity “Joseph Fourier,” Grenoble Cedex, France, in
1994 and 1996, respectively.
From 1978 to 1982, he was with the Combinatul
de Utilaj Greu [CUG (Heavy EquipmentWorks)], Cluj-Napoca. In 1983, he
joined the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, where he was initially an
Assistant Professor, and then, became an Associate Professor of electrical
engineering. From October 1991 to June 1992, he was with the Laboratory
of Electrostatics and Dielectric Materials (LEMD), Grenoble, France, as a
Research Fellow. He was an Invited Research Associate and a Lecturer at
Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi, Japan, and also a Visiting
Scientist at the University of Poitiers, Poitiers, France. From 1994 to 1997,
he was with the University Institute of Technology, Grenoble, where he taught
electromechanical conversion of energy. In September 1997, he was appointed
as a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Automated Systems, and the Head
of the Electronics and Electrostatics Research Unit at the University Institute
of Technology, Angoulême, France. From 1999 to 2003, he was the Head of
the Department of Management and Engineering of Manufacturing Systems.
Currently, he is the Head of the Electrostatics of Dispersed Media Research
Unit, which is part of the Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) Group, Laboratory
of Aerodynamic Studies, University of Poitiers. He is the author of several
textbooks in the field of electrical engineering and ionized gases. He holds
14 patents and has authored or coauthored more than 80 journal papers, and
was invited to lecture on the electrostatics of granular materials at various
universities and international conferences.
Prof. Dascalescu is a Senior Member of the IEEE Industry Applications
Society (IAS) and the Chair of the Electrostatics Processes Committee. He is
a member of the Electrostatics Society of America, the Electrostatics Society
of Romania, the Société des Electriciens et Electroniciens (SEE), and the Club
Electrotechnique, Electronique, Automatique (EEA), France.