An automated process for separating and recycling a broad mix of waste material including industrial and commercial streams. The process begins by collecting the broad mix of waste material. Optionally, the broad mix of waste material is sorted to remove contamination from the broad mix of waste material. Next, the broad mix of waste material is coarsely shredded. Plastic film is removed from the broad mix of waste material, creating a stream of plastic film and a separate stream of dirty cardboard. Residual plastic is separated from the cardboard stream and included either in the plastic stream or in an independent third stream. The process yields separate streams of a film-rich recycled plastic and a clean recycled cardboard having a purity of at least about 95%. Also provided are a related system and at least one computer-readable non-transitory storage medium embodying software for performing the process.

A method for continuous aeraulic separation of particulate materials consisting of a mixture of particles that is heterogeneous in both particle size and density is provided. The method includes grinding particles of materials, generating a gas stream conveying the ground particles, first aeraulic separation on the gas stream in order to separate the particles it contains into a first fraction consisting of the coarsest particles with variable densities and a second fraction consisting of the finest particles. A second aeraulic separation is performed on the first fraction in order to separate the particles that it contains into a third fraction consisting of the coarsest and/or most dense particles and a fourth fraction consisting of the least coarse and/or the least dense particles. A re-injecting of the third fraction or the fourth fraction at the inlet of the grinding is performed while simultaneous recovery of the second fraction as well as the fourth fraction or the third fraction, respectively, as output products.

Methods and systems for separating mixed plastic waste are provided herein. The methods generally comprise separating the mixed plastic waste into a PET-enriched stream and one or more PET-depleted streams. The separating may be accomplished using the combinations of two or more density separation stages. Exemplary density separation stages include sink-float separators and centrifugal force separators. The PET-enriched and PET-depleted streams may be recovered and/or directed to downstream chemical recycling processes.

A method and apparatus to reclaim metals from scrap material such as automobile shredder residue (ASR) that, after separating out light density components, separates out friable material such as rock and glass by crushing and screening operations to generate a high metal content product.

The invention relates to a method and system for the environmental remediation of materials that are contaminated with heavy minerals, such as heavy metals. The invention finds utility in removing heavy minerals from materials such as soils, sediments, mine tailings and ores. The invention provides a means for removing heavy minerals from contaminated materials without the use of water while reducing the generation of dust. Thus, the invention provides an environmentally friendly method for the remediation of sites that are contaminated with heavy minerals.

A method and apparatus for deconstructing a mattress of the type having steel coil springs held within fabric pockets. The apparatus includes a frame and an opener mechanism mounted to the frame and operable for opening a plurality of fabric pockets at a first end thereof to create an opening in the first end of the fabric pockets and expose the steel coil springs contained therewithin. A gripper mechanism is provided for gripping the plurality of fabric pockets at a second end thereof, opposite the first end. An extractor mechanism is mounted to the frame for extracting the steel coil springs from the fabric pockets through the openings formed in the first end of the fabric pockets.

The invention relates to a method and a system for separating dust-containing material mixtures which contain fibers, preferably glass fibers, and have heavy metal (SM) and/or precious metal (EM) from the process of recycling electric or electronic devices, wherein the method has at least one step (S1) of mechanically releasing particles from fiber-containing mixed material agglomerates in a dry manner and at least one step (S2) of mechanically releasing fiber-containing mixed material agglomerates in a dry manner.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for processing waste egg shells into (i) a first product including calcified egg shell particles having diameters of 3μ or less, and (ii) a second product including calcified egg shell particles having diameters in a range from about 3μ to about 7μ. The first product may be used as a CaCO.sub.3 substitute for paint compositions and plastics compositions. The second product may be used as a CaCO.sub.3 blasting media substitute for use with abrasive blasting equipment.

Provided is a method that, when pulp fibers are recovered from used absorbent articles that have been put into collection bags, makes it possible to safely and sanitarily crush the used absorbent articles while suppressing costs. A method for recovering pulp fibers from used absorbent articles, the method comprising: a crushing step (S12) in which collection bags (A) in which used absorbent articles have been sealed are put into a container (65), the collection bags in the container are transferred to a crushing device (12) that communicates with the container, and, bag by bag, the crushing device crushes the used absorbent articles in the collections bags in a deactivating aqueous solution; and a separation step (S13) in which the pulp fibers, a highly water-absorbent polymer, and the deactivating aqueous solution are separated from the crushed product and deactivating aqueous solution obtained in the crushing step.

Ways of obtaining a mineral rich powder from an electronic waste substrate include a shredder configured to receive the electronic waste substrate and process the electronic waste substrate into a plurality of fragments. A mill is provided that includes a container configured to receive the plurality of fragments, the container including a milling media, the mill configured to abrade the plurality of fragments with the milling media to produce a milled product. A separator is provided that is configured to receive the milled product, where the separator is configured to apply a predetermined size selection to the milled product to provide a first output including a plurality of particles and a second output including a plurality of abraded fragments. A skid is coupled to and provides structural support for the shredder, the mill, and the separator.