WEEE
-
Waste Electronics and Electrical Equipment
-
WEEE Classifications
E-Scrap
Computer & Electronics Recycling
-
Manual Recovery Pathways
-
Mechanical Recovery Pathways
-
Size & Density Classification
-
Residual Materials Disposition
Other
Poly E-Scrap Recycling
Electronics Recycling
E-Scrap
Electronic Component Recovery
Depopulating Boards
Size Reduction - Size Fractions
Automated Robotics
WEEE Classifications
Class B WEEE Scrap - waste electronic and electrical equipment that contains a battery
Class C WEEE Scrap - waste electronic and electrical equipment that has an electrical cord but no battery
Class F WEEE Scrap - waste electronic and electrical equipment with a flat screen display
Class M WEEE Scrap - includes all waste electronic and electrical equipment that contains a CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors
WEEE Classifications
| Class |
Description
10 50 51+ |
| Class B | Contains a Battery |
| Class C | Electrical Cord, No Battery |
| Class F | includes Flat Screen Display |
| Class M |
includes CRT Monitors
(cathode ray tube) |
WEEE Waste Streams
Waste Electronics and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) is typically sourced from one of the four (4)
main streams
of materials.
The generic classifications of WEEE scraps are identified by the designation as class B, class C, class F or class M.
These designations are defined in the
WEEE Classifications
table.
Each of the Classes are further identified and grouped by a weight designation.
The designation 10 refers to a grouping of those items up to 10lbs each,
The designation 50 refers to items that range from 10lb-50lbs and
The designation 51+ refers to those items that exceed 50 lbs. each.
E-Scrap Pathway Objectives
The common pathways of E-Scrap recovery typically include the use of either a
manual
or
mechanical
method or a combination of both.
Much too often the pursuit of highly sought after, the perceived premium valued items, is employed without a viable plan
to manage the balance of the less desirable or lower valued materials.
The Goal of the Recovery 2.0 approach is targeted on maximizing the recovery rates of E-Scrap
by addressing all of the residual materials including the mixed low grade complex composites at the end of the sorting chain.
Recovery 2.0 adopts the strategy that assumes that up to 100% of the E-Scrap waste stream may end up at the end of the line
and devises a comprehensive
Residual Materials Disposition
plan.
Implementing a predetermined pathway strategy to sequentially reduce the waste stream at every available opportunity
will minimize the total volume that will reach the end of the line with a responsible option to
manage the balance of the residuals.
Types of Recovered Materials
Poly E-Scrap (Plastics)
Mixed Metal Contents
-
Permanent Magnet Components
-
Populated Circuit Boards
-
Liberated Components
-
Wires & Connectors
-
Copper Content
-
Aluminum Content
-
Steel Materials
-
Residual Mixed Metallics
Other Materials
-
Glass
-
Miscellaneous Residuals
Manual Recovery Pathways
Many computer recycling operations start with a manual triage step to determine the sortation of any potential salvage
in the form of used, reusable and repairable items.
It is not uncommon to perform a crude separation to group similar materials together
and to identify and remove any potentially hazardous items.
Most manual pathways involve the partial dismantling of the low hanging fruit or easy to disassemble items
but rarely completes a full disassembly.
Frequently the partially disassembled items are sent for further
mechanical processing
once any
recoverable commodities
have been retrieved.
Diminishing Returns
With the advent of micro electronics the quantity of metals available to be recovered continues to diminish,
as components get smaller and smaller it becomes difficult or impossible to manually dismantle.
As technology develops the use of precious or critical metals also continues to decrease or is replaced entirely.
Beyond basic triage, this may leave us with the only viable option as recovery by default from the residual
trace elements
utilizing either a pyrometalurgical or hydrometalurgical method or a combination of both.
In any case, ultimately we see the processing complexity and costs continue to increase and the potential economic return
continues to diminish.
The Mechanical Recovery Pathway
The Mechanical E-Scrap Recovery process adopts a divide and conquer strategy
that systematically or methodically reduces and recovers the waste stream into individual segregated and specified commodities.
The process follows a multi stage recovery procedure that
identifies
and removes commodities at each step,
subsequently reducing the volume of materials remaining that are required to proceed to the next stage.
The first step of the process begins with the primary
size reduction
which converts the raw incoming whole E-Scrap mix
into a bulk stream of material less than 6 inches in size.
Some automated systems include a
Permanent Magnet Scrap
removal module that may eliminate Unclean Scrap Magnets and Permanent Magnet
fragments
from the stream.
Anything in the stream under 6" than passes through a primary magnetic separation step that removes recoverable steel
and the remaining stream is directed into the size and density classification systems.
The Size & Density separation units begin the stream separation process into distinct fractions.
The size classification system is based on a
Four Stream Loop
process designed to achieve a diminishing stream flow that leads to the
Residual Materials Disposition.
Size & Density Classification
After the primary size reduction (shredding) & magnetic separation to remove most of ferrous (steel) fraction,
the minus 6" stream enters into the Size & Density Classification unit.
At this stage the material flow is divided into 4 designated size streams and each size stream is further density separated.
The streams are subjected to an Automated identification & segregation processes that results in
the extraction of segregated commodities.
Unlike a
MRF separation
strategy, that is based on high speed and high volume throughput,
the E-Scrap separation process is based on a high quality output.
This facilitates the use of segregation carousels as opposed to high speed linear conveyers in order to
allow for a flexible sortation time to maximize recovery extraction rates of highly variable content feedstock inputs.
The remaining unsorted materials continue in a multi stage cycle referred to as a Four Stream Loop.
The Four Stream Loop
(minus = less than plus = more than)
Loop #1. - This stream contains the minus 6" down to plus 2" fraction of mixed E-Scrap that is subjected to the
identification & segregation process for clean commodity extraction.
Any unsorted material remaining in this 6" fraction is sent into a secondary size reduction step and is
reduced into an under 2" fraction.
This material is feed back (regenerated) into the sizing process to be divided into the remaining 3 size fractions.
Loop #2. - This fraction contains a minus 2" down to plus 1/4" E-Scrap material, that is
segregated to extract any clean commodity.
Any remaining unsorted minus 2" fraction is size reduced in a third step shredder to under 1/4" in size
and that material is returned to the size classification process and divided into
the two remaining fractions
Loop #3. - This is a minus 1/4" down to a plus 10 mesh sized fraction that from this freshly liberated material clean commodity may be extracted.
Any of the contaminated or mixed remaining minus 1/4" fraction is pulverized or milled
and returned to the size classification stage.
Any materials that have been milled and do not pass through the minus 10 mesh
are isolated, identified and sent for designated processing.
Loop #4. - This material is a minus 10 mesh powder or particle size referred to as FINES
that have been freshly liberated and is prepared for extraction and may be gravity separated or electrostaticly segregated
into clean commodities.
The remaining non-metallic fines or residual mixed fraction
may be directed for
thermal reduction, at which point the hydrocarbons or any organic volatiles
are dealt with for
disposition
in the Recovery 2.0 process.
The segregated or mixed metallic fines fraction typically contains the highly desirable strategic and
exotic or trace heavy metals fraction which are commonly prepared for hydrometallurgy or electrochemical refining.
Residual Materials Disposition
The Residual Materials Disposition management strategy is designed as the end of the line option
for any residual materials remaining after commodity recycling efforts have been exhausted.
For all of those mixed complex residues remaining a resource recovery process may be implemented to
extract the
elemental value
from those materials.
The recovery of the mixed metallic residue fraction may be recovered in a
Hydrometallurgy
process and the non-metallics residue fraction may be recovered in a
Thermal Reduction
process.
This residual materials recovery strategy may be summarized within the
Recovery 2.0
process.
Multi Commodity Residues
The recovery of elements from mixed complexes of Multi Commodity Residues is a challenge that the
Recovery 2.0
strategy has set-out to over come.
Successful recovery efforts will mitigate existing exposure to environmental hazards while extracting value from the
residual wastes.
These materials include battery residues, residual e-scrap streams, Alkali & Alkaline earth elements,
trace toxic, hazardous or heavy metals contents.
The Recovery 2.0 process follows a Concentration & Selective Extraction
methodology
to achieve these goals.
