Patent ID: 7741574

Claim:
A separator for intended use in at least partially separating at least one species of selectively charged particles from a particle mixture carried by a flow of a carrier gas, comprising: means for tribocharging particles in the particle mixture carried by the carrier gas flow; a tubular, elongated body for receiving the carrier gas flow from the means for tribocharging; first and second electrodes for generating a first electric field for deflecting selectively charged particles in at least a portion of the body; and an imperforate partition defining first and second channels adapted for separating the carrier gas flow into first and second portions and preventing the portions from recombining downstream of the first electric field, at least one of the portions of the carrier gas including selectively charged particles deflected by the first electric field; wherein a direction of gravity is such that gravity acting on the selectively charged particles passing through the first electric field between the first and second electrodes directs the selectively charged particles towards the first or second electrode.