Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Numerical and experimental research on the degradation mechanism in a dust-free crusher using DEM-CFD method

  • Published:
Computational Particle Mechanics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Ultrafine crushing is a prerequisite for achieving efficient recycling of waste thermoset plastics. In order to address the problems of recycling including low utilization, this research investigates rigid thermoset polyurethane foam insulation board as the research object and selects an integrated dust-free crusher designed independently. The crushing tool adopts the mechanical physical method to break down the plastic. By optimizing the crushing process parameters, combined with the particle size distribution law of the thermosetting plastic recycled material and the discrete element parameter calibration method, a crushing model based on the Hertz–Mindlin (with bonding) theory is designed and carried out. The discrete element method–computational fluid dynamics (DEM–CFD) gas–solid coupling field numerical simulation is used to explore the degradation of the recycled material after the optimization of the mechanical equipment. The results are verified with spectroscopic characterization and response surface method tests. It was found that when the optimized parameters of a five-slice blade, a crushing time of 25 min, and a crusher speed of 5500 rpm are used, the network crosslink density of the waste thermoset plastics is successfully broken. Among the materials tested, the crosslink density of the 120 mesh recycled material is very small (0.00074 mol/cm3). Many renewable polymerized active groups are obtained, and the degradation yield reaches up to 80.34%.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

modified from Cho et al. [20])

Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig.6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

BMP:

Bonded particle model

DEM:

Discrete element model

PBM:

Population balance model

BOI:

Body of influence

\({{\varvec{k}}}_{{\varvec{n}}}\) :

Normal stress per unit area \(({\text{N}}/{\text{m}}^{3})\)

\({{\varvec{k}}}_{{\varvec{t}}}\) :

Tangential stress per unit area (\(\text{N/}{\text{m}}^{3}\))

\({{\varvec{\sigma}}}_{{\varvec{c}}}\) :

Uniaxial compressive strength (Pa)

\({{\varvec{\tau}}}_{{\varvec{b}},{\varvec{m}}}\) :

Tangential ultimate stress (Pa)

\({{\varvec{e}}}_{{\varvec{p}}{\varvec{p}}}\) :

Coefficient of restitution (particle–particle)

\({{\varvec{\mu}}}_{{\varvec{p}}{\varvec{p}}}\) :

Coefficient of static friction (particle–particle)

\({{\varvec{\mu}}}_{{\varvec{p}}{\varvec{p}}}^{{\varvec{r}}}\) :

Coefficient of rolling friction (particle–particle)

\({{\varvec{e}}}_{{\varvec{p}}{\varvec{w}}}\) :

Coefficient of restitution (particle–wall)

\({{\varvec{\mu}}}_{{\varvec{p}}{\varvec{w}}}\) :

Coefficient of static friction (particle–wall)

\({{\varvec{\mu}}}_{{\varvec{p}}{\varvec{w}}}^{{\varvec{r}}}\) :

Coefficient of rolling friction (particle–wall)

References

  1. Zhong SY (2007) Building plastics. China Petrochemical Press, Hong Kong (in Chinese).

  2. Liu ZC (2007) Design theory and application of material crushing equipment. China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou (in Chinese).

  3. Ding L, Cao N, Zhao X (2012) Discussion on physical recycling and cross-linking recycling technology of waste thermosetting plastics. Utilization of Rubber and Plastic Resources 6:28–30 (in Chinese)

  4. Shi L (2013) Research on recycling technology and experiment of waste thermosetting plastics based on mechanical and physical method. Hefei University of Technology, Hefei (in Chinese)

  5. Singh R, Singh I, Kumar R et al (2019) Waste thermosetting polymer and ceramic as reinforcement in thermoplastic matrix for sustainability: thermomechanical investigations. J Thermoplast Compos Mater

  6. Xu YY (2016) Recycling process of waste thermosetting phenolic resin. Hubei University, Wuhan (in Chinese).

  7. Buss AH, Kovaleski JL, Pagani RN et al (2019) Proposal to reuse rubber waste from end-of-life tires using thermosetting resin. Sustainability 11(24):6997

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Chen GF (2009) Research on resource utilization technology of waste thermosetting plastics. Donghua University, Shanghai (in Chinese).

  9. Protsenko AE, Pimenova ED, Petrov VV (2020) Recycling of glass fibers sheets from thermoset reinforced plastic using thermolysis method. IOP Conf Ser Mater Sci Eng 734(1): 012185.

  10. João RC, Nuno MA, João RF (2011) Recycling of FRP composites: reusing fine GFRP waste in concrete mixtures. J Clean Prod 19:1745–1753

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Pires PGP, Maia AAD, de Paiva JMF (2019) Effect of high pressure laminate residue on the mechanical properties of recycled polypropylene blends. Polym Test 80:106104.

  12. Liu ZF, Shi L, Wu ZW et al (2013) Recycling technology and experimental research of polyurethane foam from waste refrigeration equipment based on mechanical physical method. China Mech Eng 24(06):805–810 (in Chinese)

  13. Barrios GKP, De Carvalho RM, Kwade A et al (2013) Contact parameter estimation for DEM simulation of iron ore pellet handling. Powder Technol 248:84–93

  14. Freireich B, Ketterhagen WR, Wassgren C (2011) Intra-tablet coating variability for several pharmaceutical tablet shapes. Chem Eng Sci 66:2535–2544

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Quist J, Evertsson CM (2016) Cone crusher modelling and simulation using DEM. Miner Eng 85:92–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Potyondy DO, Cundall PA (2004) A bonded-particle model for rock. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 41(8):1329–1364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Lisjak A, Grasselli G (2014) A review of discrete modeling techniques for fracturing processes in discontinuous rock masses. J Rock Mech Geotech Eng 6(4):301–314

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Li YS (2014) Cavity design and optimization of large-scale gyratory crusher. Jilin University (in Chinese)

  19. Sun CL (2000) The latest development of crushers. China Powder Technol 3:35–37 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Cho N, Martin CD, Sego DC (2007) A clumped particle model for rock. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 44(7):997–1010.

  21. Groot RD, Stoyanov SD (2011) Close packing density and fracture strength of adsorbed polydisperse particle layers. Soft Matter 7:4750–4761

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Zheng GB (2006) Using Rosin Rammler distribution function to study coal dust particle size distribution. J Taiyuan Univ Technol 3:317–319 (in Chinese)

  23. Zhao SY (2006) Accurate calculation of characteristic particle size and uniformity coefficient of RRB distribution model. Nonferrous Min Metall 22:49–52 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Brouwers HJH (2006) Particle-size distribution and packing fraction of geometric random packings. Phys Rev E 74(3):031309 (in Chinese)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Fang H, Yang J, Song Y et al (2020) Simulation and experimental study on the stone powder separator of a vertical shaft impact crusher. Adv Powder Technol

  26. Vreman B, Geurts BJ, Deen NG et al (2009) Two-and four-way coupled Euler–Lagrangian large-eddy simulation of turbulent particle-laden channel flow. Flow Turbul Combust 82(1):47–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Del Bello E, Taddeucci J, Vitturi MM et al (2017) Effect of particle volume fraction on the settling velocity of volcanic ash particles: insights from joint experimental and numerical simulations. Sci Rep 7:39620

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Fornari W, Zade S, Brandt L et al (2019) Settling of finite-size particles in turbulence at different volume fractions. Acta Mech 230(2):413–430

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  29. Wang BH, Jiang L, Hu HB (2019) Experimental study on the influence of wall restriction on swirl flow field. Gas Turb Technol 32(04):1–9 (in Chinese)

  30. Dhakal TP, Walters DK (2009) Curvature and rotation sensitive variants of the K-Omega SST turbulence model. Fluids Eng Div Summer Meet 43727:2221–2229

    Google Scholar 

  31. Solutions DEM (2010) EDEM 2.3 user guide. DEM Solutions, Edinburgh

  32. An EK, Zhang R, Han YF, Liu D (2018) Grid independence analysis of multiphase turbulent combustion numerical simulation. Boiler Technol 49(06):54–58 in Chinese

  33. Chen XX (2012) Rotor design of vertical shaft crusher based on deterministic impact technology. University of Jinan, Jinan (in Chinese).

  34. Zhao J (2012) Flow field analysis and pulverization effect study of thermosetting plastic shearing and crushing. Hefei University of Technology, Hefei (in Chinese).

  35. Shirvan KM, Mamourian M, Mirzakhanlari S et al (2017) Numerical investigation of heat exchanger effectiveness in a double pipe heat exchanger filled with nanofluid: a sensitivity analysis by response surface methodology. Powder Technol 313:99–111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Shechtman O (2013) The coefficient of variation as an index of measurement reliability. Methods of clinical epidemiology. Springer, Berlin, pp 39–49

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number 51875419).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Metallurgical Equipment and Control Technology of Ministry of Education, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430081, China

    Yiwei Fan & Zhaohui Wang

  2. Hubei Key Laboratory of Mechanical Transmission and Manufacturing Engineering, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430081, China

    Yiwei Fan & Zhaohui Wang

Authors
  1. Yiwei Fan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zhaohui Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhaohui Wang.

Ethics declarations

Competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fan, Y., Wang, Z. Numerical and experimental research on the degradation mechanism in a dust-free crusher using DEM-CFD method. Comp. Part. Mech. 9, 569–584 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40571-021-00431-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40571-021-00431-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation