PCB recycling and electronic scrap disposal: about the prospects for this direction at the EWEEES international congress

The third Eurasian Congress EWEEES was held on March 27-28, 2018 in Moscow. According to Part 8, Art. 12, Federal Law No. 89-FZS, from 01.01.2017 it is prohibited to landfill wastes containing useful components (the list of wastes is approved by the order of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 25.07.2017 No. 1589-r). The event was devoted to the search for solutions for waste management of electrical and electronic equipment included in the above list. The meeting was attended by delegates from 20 countries – government officials, media, directors of the companies and world experts on this issue.

The delegate of IPEC presented a report on the topic ‘Recycling of printed circuit boards on the TDP pyrolysis plant’. Spent printed circuit boards are a valuable raw material for extracting precious metals. However, the obstacle in the recycling process is the very low concentration of metals and their uneven distribution in printed circuit boards.

To solve the above problems, IPEC offered to recycle the old printed circuit boards by the method of low-temperature pyrolysis at the Thermal Decomposition Plants (TDP). This technology reduces the weight of waste by 30-40% and avoids the need for a complex and costly pyro metallurgical process, which is an integral part of traditional recycling methods.

Advantages of the IPEC technology for recycling and disposal of PCBs and electronic scrap:

Maximum degree of purification from foreign materials

• Greater degree of extraction of precious materials
• Ease of extraction of precious metals from the dry residue of recycling
• Increase in the concentration of precious metals
• Homogenization of precious metals
• Production of raw material for all copper-smelting plants

The technological solution was successfully tested at the IPEC production site. The main recycling product is the metal concentrate fed for remelting in the electric furnace and after treatment from slag formations is subjected to electrolysis in order to produce pure copper and separate the concentrate of precious metals for their subsequent separation.