Chemical Engineering and Processing, Vol.130, 192-200, 2018
Low-temperature melting and centrifugation of lead and tin from metal-rich particles of crushed waste printed circuit boards
The rapid growth of electronic devices, their subsequent obsolescence and disposal has resulted in electronic waste being one of the fastest increasing waste streams worldwide. Printed circuit boards (PCBs) contained substantial quantities of metals in concentrations significantly higher than those typically found in corresponding ores. The high value of valuable metals in the e-waste makes the recycle process attractive economically. The study was focused on an effective process to selectively recycle lead and tin from metal-rich particles of crushed PCBs by melting and centrifugation in low temperature. Centrifugal separation is an efficient technology to strengthen the transmission of multiphase flow and reaction process. The temperature had a great influence on the composition of Pb-Sn alloy, while the gravity coefficient only affected the Pb and Sn recovery values, and had little effect on the mass ratio of Pb and Sn in the obtained alloy. At an optimized temperature of 420 degrees C and a gravity coefficient of 1000, the recovery values of Pb and Sn were 57.16% and 59.49%, respectively. The total mass fraction and mass ratio of Pb and Sn were 93.58 wt.% and 0.87, respectively. This process provides an effective method to recycle valuable metals from PCBs.