Introduction
Sorting is synonymous to the separation of two- or multicomponent mixtures into its individual components. The newly produced materials being the better and the more valuable, the less they are contaminated with components i. e. materials of the other kind. The report mainly covers the dry sorting of two component mixtures by means Of a combination of two classification methods i. e. sieving and air classification. A method which has been developed at Clausthal.
The method can be used for coarse materials only, that is for particulate mixtures coarser than approximately one millimeter. Sorting in this size range becomes more and more important however, since it may be used for the recycling of waste or secondary products. The process described may, on the other hand, also be used for the dry softing of minerals such as coal or ore where water is scarce or not available in sufficient quantities, and also in countries with average temperatures below freezing point, and it may replace wet methods as used up until now in mineral Processing. The combined sorting process sorts mixtures into individual components with high throughputs, reasonable costs of investment and low specific costs.