MODULE 7

Separation and Processing of Solid Waste

FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF MSWM

Primary collection

Secondary
collection
 Lecture 16
Unit operation for component separation
Segregation of solid waste at source (household)

Household/ community
Household dry waste
components (recall)

Glass Plastics (#1- #7)

Cardboard and paperboard

Paper (newspaper, magazines) Aluminium and steel cans

WASTE SEPARATION
Waste separation can be done at:
 The source of generation
 Materials Recovery Facility (MRF)

Purpose of waste separation:

 Modify the physical characteristics to facilitate
removal of desired components. UNIT OPERATIONS
 Remove specific components or contaminants.

 Prepare the material for subsequent uses.

UNIT OPERATIONS
 Size Reduction
 A process of mechanical reduction of size of collected
materials to obtain a uniform final product.

 Reduces storage and shipping cost.

 It is not a volume reduction process (e.g. shredded paper

occupies more space than the parent stock)
 Different types -

 Shredders usually involve metal parts revolving

against one another which include-

(a) hammer mill Hammer mill

(b) Flail mill

Flail mill hammer

(c) Shear Shredder

Shear Shredders
Some other types of size reduction operations-

A glass crusher in Yemen

Glass crusher
A mobile glass crusher in Australia
 Wood chippers

• Wood grinders (e.g.

chippers such as local tree
cutter for reduction of the
branches to chips and tub
grinders.

• Finer materials can be

used as raw material for
composting and larger
pieces as fuel).

An industrial wood chipper

 Screening
 A process of separation of mixtures of materials of different sizes into two or more size fractions by means of
screen surfaces.
 Main objectives are:
 Removal of oversized and undersized materials
 Separation into light (combustible paper) and heavy (non-combustible, glass) fractions.
 Screening devices include-

Vibrating screen Rotary screen Disc screen

Density separation (Air classification)
 A process of separation of light materials such as paper and plastic from heavy materials such as
metals based on weight difference in the air stream.
 In solid fraction, the light fraction is typically organic while the heavy fraction is typically inorganic.
 It is used to separate plastic from commingled situation.

Exhaust Air

MSW infeed Cyclone

separator

Air stream

Rotary airlock
Light fraction
Heavy fraction

Density separator
Air density separator
Magnetic Separation
 A process which separates ferrous metals from the waste stream utilizing magnetic principles.
 Separates tin cans from aluminum in a commingled situation.

Magnetic separator
Densification (compaction)
 A process which increases the density of any material so that it can be stored and transported more cheaply as a
means of preparing densified refuse-derived fuels (dRDR).
 It includes balers and can crushers.

Baler Can crusher

Facilities for Handling, Moving and Storing MSW
 Conveyors
Facilities for Handling, Moving and Storing MSW
 Movable equipments (front end loaders, fork lifts) crosshead Overhead guard
mass

Sitting cabin

Operating lever

Hydraulic system

Carriage
Engine compartment

Fork

Front end loader

Forks Frame
Fork lifter
Facilities for Handling, Moving and Storing MSW
 Weighing facilities
Facilities for Handling, Moving and Storing MSW
 Storage facilities
A video from Poland will show
mechanical segregation of MSW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6OCvtIIb-g
Thank you