Design, Fabrication and Evaluation of Electrostatic Separator System for Separating of Material Other Grain (MOG) in Agriculture Crops (A Case Study of Wheat Straw Separation from Wheat Grain)

Seed and grain separation is one of the most important steps in the post-harvest process of agriculture crops. The electrostatic method is applicable for the separation of seed from impurities when conventional methods cannot be used. In this study, a rotating electrostatic separating system with a corona electrode using a high-voltage electric field was designed and evaluated to separate grain from straw particles. The wheat and straw particles vent on belt conveyor and passed through the corona zone under the wired electrode. Each particle gained a certain amount of charge based on its electrical properties. The charged particles passed through the electric field generated by the static electrode as they moved along the ground and rotating cylinder. The resultant force due to the difference in the charge of the particles and the difference in their volume mass caused the difference in the direction of movement of the particles and poured them down into four groups of different boxes. Experiments were carried out at four levels of voltage and three levels of rotational speed of cylinder. Results showed that increasing the voltage from 10 to 25 kV and increasing the speed up to 70 rpm achieved the highest recovery and purity of grain and straw in the specified boxes embedded under the machine.