Computer Simulation of the Pneumatic Separator in the Pneumatic–Electrostatic Separation System for Recycling Waste Printed Circuit Boards with Electronic Components

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (9) ◽  
pp. 4598-4604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mianqiang Xue ◽  
Zhenming Xu
Keyword(s):  
Computer Simulation ◽  
Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Circuit Boards ◽  
Separation System ◽  
Electronic Components ◽  
Electrostatic Separation ◽  
Printed Circuit ◽  
Waste Printed Circuit Boards

scholarly journals Dismantling of Waste Printed Circuit Boards with the Simultaneous Recovery of Copper: Experimental Study and Process Modeling

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (18) ◽  
pp. 5186
Author(s):  
Szabolcs Fogarasi ◽  
Árpád Imre-Lucaci ◽  
Florica Imre-Lucaci
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Electrochemical Process ◽  
Circuit Boards ◽  
Electronic Components ◽  
Printed Circuit ◽  
Waste Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Leaching Solution ◽  
The Impact

The study was carried out with the aim to demonstrate the applicability of a combined chemical–electrochemical process for the dismantling of waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) created from different types of electronic equipment. The concept implies a simple and less polluting process that allows the chemical dismantling of WPCBs with the simultaneous recovery of copper from the leaching solution and the regeneration of the leaching agent. In order to assess the performance of the dismantling process, various tests were performed on different types of WPCBs using the 0.3 M FeCl3 in 0.5 M HCl leaching system. The experimental results show that, through the leaching process, the electronic components (EC) together with other fractions can be efficiently dismounted from the surface of WPCBs, with the parallel electrowinning of copper from the copper rich leaching solution. In addition, the process was scaled up for the dismantling of 100 kg/h WPCBs and modeled and simulated using process flow modelling software ChemCAD in order to assess the impact of all steps and equipment on the technical and environmental performance of the overall process. According to the results, the dismantling of 1 kg of WPCBs requires a total energy of 0.48 kWh, and the process can be performed with an overall low environmental impact based on the obtained general environmental indexes (GEIs) values.

scholarly journals Disassembly of waste printed circuit boards using air heating and centrifugal force

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Ricardo Soares Rubin ◽  
Marco Aurélio Soares de Castro ◽  
Dennis Brandão
Keyword(s):  
Centrifugal Force ◽  
Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Power Supplies ◽  
Circuit Boards ◽  
Electronic Components ◽  
Printed Circuit ◽  
Waste Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Hot Air ◽  
Air Heating ◽  
Plastic Parts

Waste electrical and electronic equipment is a significant source of material that can contribute to reduce environmental impacts associated to extraction and discard stages; therefore, it is necessary to develop efficient recycling processes for components such as Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). Current methods for PCB recycling may be optimized by previous disassembly of such components. In the work reported here, an especially designed and manufactured centrifuge was employed to disassemble PCBs from power supplies (PS-PCBs) and memory chips (ME-PCBs) of personal computers (PCs), through combination of hot air flow and centrifugal force. The results showed that the device was capable of separating tin solder, electronic components (EC) and PCB substrate, as long as hazardous components and plastic parts are previously removed. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) with combined energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analyzer showed that the recovered solder had under 3%wt of contamination; therefore, it can be employed in the production of new soldering material, replacing the more commonly used solder dross. EC recovery rates were up to 94%wt for PS-PCBs and 32%wt for ME-PCBs, and once components such as inductors were not visibly damaged in the process, possibilities of reusing recovered components may be further investigated.

scholarly journals Dismantling of Printed Circuit Boards Enabling Electronic Components Sorting and Their Subsequent Treatment Open Improved Elemental Sustainability Opportunities

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 10357
Author(s):  
Ange A. Maurice ◽  
Khang Ngoc Dinh ◽  
Nicolas M. Charpentier ◽  
Andrea Brambilla ◽  
Jean-Christophe P. Gabriel
Keyword(s):  
Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Chemical Elements ◽  
Subsequent Treatment ◽  
Circuit Boards ◽  
Electronic Components ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
Printed Circuit ◽  
Waste Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Processing Wastes ◽  
Review State

This critical review focuses on advanced recycling strategies to enable or increase recovery of chemical elements present in waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs). Conventional recycling involves manual removal of high value electronic components (ECs), followed by raw crushing of WPCBs, to recover main elements (by weight or value). All other elements remain unrecovered and end up highly diluted in post-processing wastes or ashes. To retrieve these elements, it is necessary to enrich the waste streams, which requires a change of paradigm in WPCB treatment: the disassembly of WPCBs combined with the sorting of ECs. This allows ECs to be separated by composition and to drastically increase chemical element concentration, thus making their recovery economically viable. In this report, we critically review state-of-the-art processes that dismantle and sort ECs, including some unpublished foresight from our laboratory work, which could be implemented in a recycling plant. We then identify research, business opportunities and associated advanced retrieval methods for those elements that can therefore be recovered, such as refractory metals (Ta, Nb, W, Mo), gallium, or lanthanides, or those, such as the platinum group elements, that can be recovered in a more environmentally friendly way than pyrometallurgy. The recovery methods can be directly tuned and adapted to the corresponding stream.

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