Usage of air jigging for multi-component separation of construction and demolition waste

The use of air jigging for performing multi-component separation in the treatment of mixed construction and demolition waste was studied. Sorting tests were carried out with mixtures of equal bulk volume of concrete and brick in which fixed quantities of unwanted materials - gypsum, wood and paper - were added. Experimental results have demonstrated the possibility to use air jigging to carry out both the removal of low-density contaminants and the concrete concentration in only one process step. In relation to the removal of contaminants only, the overall performance of jigging process can be comparable with that of commercial air classifiers and automatic sorting systems. Also, the initial content of contaminants seems does not have a significant effect on the separation extent. These results are of particular importance for recycling plants processing as they represent an alternative to optimize the use of air jigs. Further investigation is needed in order to evaluate the practical feasibility of such method.