Oran’s Higher school of Electrical Engineering and Energetics
Waste recycling plant 4 th year
Waste recycling plant
Task 1:
You are going to read a text on recycling domestic refuse. The main
components of refuse are given in the list below. Using your knowledge of
engineering, discuss in your group how one of these components could be
recovered from refuse and what use could be made of the materials recovered.
Your teacher will decide which component each group will discuss.
Ferrous metals Glass Plastics
Paper Organic materials Non-ferrous metals
Task 2
Now report your solutions to the rest of the class. Be prepared to answer
questions and defend your ideas.
Task 3
Read the text below to see how the solutions proposed by your class compare
with those used in the experimental plant described
Recycling domestic refuse
The consumer society produces more and more refuse. A number of solutions to this problem
have been proposed. In some countries refuse is burnt to generate electric power. In Germany,
producers must take back unwanted packaging for recycling. In other countries, householders
are asked to separate out refuse so that it can be recycled more easily. This text describes an
experimental plant in Holland designed to recycle domestic refuse.
The rubbish collected from households consists of a mixture of organic materials such as
kitchen waste, and inorganic materials such as glass and plastic bottles, tin cans, and packaging.
The rubbish is first passed through a hammer mill to shred it The mill consists of rotating steel
arms which break up any large items to reduce them to a more manageable size. Any
Items which may cause damage later in the process are rejected at this stage.
The shredded mixture passes under an electromagnet which removes ferrous metals. Much of
this is tin cans. Almost all ferrous metals are recovered in this way. After that, the residue is
carried by conveyor belt to an air classifier. A stream of air is blown through the classifier,
which has a zig-zag shape. Low density materials such as plastic, paper, and some
organic substances rise to the top of the classifier. Higher density materials such as glass and
non-ferrous metals fall to the bottom and are discarded. These could be further separated out
using a range of processes. For example, an eddy current mechanism
could screen out aluminium waste. Froth flotation techniques could recover glass.
The low density portion is carried to a rotating drum where it is screened. Fine organic materials
pass through the screen leaving a mixture which consists mainly of plastic and paper. The
organic residue can be used for compost or to make bricks. The next stage is to separate the
plastic from the paper. This was initially a problem as both are similar in density. The solution
is to wet the mixture. The paper absorbs water and as a result becomes
denser than the plastic. 35 In the final stage, the wetted mixture is passed through a second
air-classifier where the lighter plastic leaves from the top and the denser wet paper from the
bottom. The recovered paper could be fed to pulp mills for further recycling.
The remaining plastic is a mixture of thermosets and thermoplastics. It is not easy to separate
these out but the mixture can be melted and formed into insulating materials for building.
Oran’s Higher school of Electrical Engineering and Energetics
Waste recycling plant 4 th year
Oran’s Higher school of Electrical Engineering and Energetics
Waste recycling plant 4 th year
Stage4
Where? ………………………………………………………..
What happens? The low density portion is screened.
Why? …………………………………………………………
Stage 5
What happens?........................................................
Why? To give the paper and plastic different densities
Stage 6
Where? …………………………………………………………………………..............
What happens? .................................................................................
How? by a current of air which carries low density plastic to the top while wet paper falls to
the bottom
Language study
Possibility: can and could
Answer these questions about the text.
1 Does this plant screen out aluminum waste?
2 Does it recover glass?
3 Is recovered paper fed to pulp mills?
4 Is recovered plastic melted and formed into insulating blocks?
5 Is organic residue used for compost and bricks?
The answer to questions 1.2, and 3 is No. The answer to questions 4 and 5 is
Yesl Maybe. How do we know? Look at the text.
1 An eddy current mechanism could screen out aluminum waste.
2 Froth flotation techniques could recover glass.
3 The recovered paper could be fed to pulp mills for further recycling.
4 The mixture can be melted and formed into insulating materials for
building.
5 The organic residue can be used for compost or to make bricks.
We use could in examples 1.2,and 3 to show that something is possible but is
not in fact done. The reasons why nothing is done in these examples may be
expense or lack of demand. We do not know.
We use can in examples4 and 5 to show that something is possible and may in
fact be done.
Task 6
Fill in the gaps in this text with either can or could. Be prepared to justify your answers.
1 With present technology we………………. recycle almost all domestic refuse. But in
practice market forces determine what is worth recycling.
2 Successful plants in a number of countries show that refuse………………. be used as a fuel
in power stations.
3 If we recycled most of our refuse, the increasing problem of waste disposal…………….. be
solved.
4 Sweaters…………………… be produced from old plastic bottles. A company in the United
States converts the waste plastic into polyester yarn. It takes twenty-five two-litre bottles to
make a sweater.
Oran’s Higher school of Electrical Engineering and Energetics
Waste recycling plant 4 th year
5 At present we………………… not easily separate thermosetting plastics from
thermoplastics.
Writing Describing a process :reason and method
In Units 13and 15 we learnt how to sequence and locate the stages in a process. In this unit we
will study ways to describe and explain what happens in each stage.
Look again at the notes on Stage 1.
Stage 1
Where? A hammer mill
What happens? the waste is shredded
Why? to reduce it to a manageable size
How? using rotating steel arms to break up any large items
Note how we can combine information on sequence, location, process, reason. and method.
For example:
Sequence+ location
The waste first passes to a hammer mill
+ action
The waste first passes to a hammer mill, where it i s shredded
+ reason
The waste first passes to a hammer mill, where it is shredded to reduce it to a manageable size
+ method
The waste first passes to a hammer mill, where it is shredded to reduce it to a manageable
size using rotating steel arms to break up any large items.
Task 7
Combine information on the other stages in the same way to make a full description of the
recycling process. Note that you can help your reader understand the sequence by carrying
information from one stage to the next. For example:
Stage 1 The waste is shredded.
Stage 2 The shredded waste ...
Stage 5 The mixture is wetted.
Stage 6 The wetted mixture ...
