Evaluation of a recycling process for printed circuit board by physical separation and heat treatment

Journal Article · Tue Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Waste Management

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/J.WASMAN.2014.03.002· OSTI ID:22447572

Fujita, Toyohisa ^[1]; Ono, Hiroyuki ^[2]; Dodbiba, Gjergj ^[1]; Yamaguchi, Kunihiko ^[3]

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1. Department of Systems Innovation, The University of Tokyo, Hongo Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan)
2. Dowa Eco-System Co. Ltd., Tokyo 101-0021 (Japan)
3. Aita University, Akita 010-8502 (Japan)

Highlights: • The parts mounted on printed circuit board (PCB) were liberated by underwater explosion and mechanical crushing. • The crushed PCB without surface-mounted parts was carbonized under inert atmosphere at 873 K to recover copper. • The multi-layered ceramic capacitors including nickel was carbonized at 873 K to recover nickel by the magnetic separation. • The tantalum powders were recovered from the molded resins by heat treatment at 723 and 823 K in air atmosphere and screening. • Energy and treatment cost of new process increased, however, the environmental burden decreased comparing conventional one. - Abstract: Printed circuit boards (PCBs) from discarded personal computer (PC) and hard disk drive were crushed by explosion in water or mechanical comminution in order to disintegrate the attached parts. More parts were stripped from PCB of PC, composed of epoxy resin; than from PCB of household appliance, composed of phenol resin. In an attempt to raise the copper grade of PCB by removing other components, a carbonization treatment was investigated. The crushed PCB without surface-mounted parts was carbonized under a nitrogen atmosphere at 873–1073 K. After screening, the char was classified by size into oversized pieces, undersized pieces and powder. The copper foil and glass fiber pieces were liberated and collected in undersized fraction. The copper foil was liberated easily from glass fiber by stamping treatment. As one of the mounted parts, the multi-layered ceramic capacitors (MLCCs), which contain nickel, were carbonized at 873 K. The magnetic separation is carried out at a lower magnetic field strength of 0.1 T and then at 0.8 T. In the +0.5 mm size fraction the nickel grade in magnetic product was increased from 0.16% to 6.7% and the nickel recovery is 74%. The other useful mounted parts are tantalum capacitors. The tantalum capacitors were collected from mounted parts. The tantalum-sintered bodies were separated from molded resins by heat treatment at 723–773 K in air atmosphere and screening of 0.5 mm. Silica was removed and 70% of tantalum grade was obtained after more than 823 K heating and separation. Next, the evaluation of Cu recycling in PCB is estimated. Energy consumption of new process increased and the treatment cost becomes 3 times higher comparing the conventional process, while the environmental burden of new process decreased comparing conventional process. The nickel recovery process in fine ground particles increased energy and energy cost comparing those of the conventional process. However, the environmental burden decreased than the conventional one. The process for recovering tantalum used more heat for the treatment and therefore the energy consumption increased by 50%, when comparing with conventional process. However, the market price for tantalum is very large; the profit for tantalum recovery is added. Also the environmental burden decreased by the recycling of tantalum recovery. Therefore, the tantalum recovery is very important step in the PCB recycling. If there is no tantalum, the consumed energy and treatment cost increase in the new process, though the environmental burden decreases.

• OSTI ID: 22447572
• Journal Information: Waste Management, Vol. 34, Issue 7; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2014 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0956-053X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
CARBONIZATION
COPPER
CRUSHING
EPOXIDES
EVALUATION
HEATING
INERT ATMOSPHERE
MAGNETIC DISKS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC FILTERS
NICKEL
NITROGEN
RECYCLING
REMOVAL
RESINS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SILICA
TANTALUM
UNDERWATER EXPLOSIONS