Resources, Conservation & Recycling 126 (2017) 209–218

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Resources, Conservation & Recycling

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/resconrec

Review

Recovery of waste printed circuit boards through pyrometallurgical MARK

processing: A review
⁎
Huaidong Wang, Shuhao Zhang, Bin Li , De’an Pan, Yufeng Wu, Tieyong Zuo
Institute of Circular Economy, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In recent years, due to the large amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment. Researchers need to search
Waste electrical and electronic equipment for a method to solve the harmless disposal of waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) as soon as possible.
(WEEE) Considering that WPCBs contain metals and polymeric materials, they have been considered to be an important
Waste printed circuit board (WPCB) urban mineral resource. The recycling of WPCBs has been widely studied. Published research shows that pyr-
Resource utilization
ometallurgical processing is an economic and effective method to achieve WPCBs harmless recycling and re-
Pyrometallurgical processing
source utilization. This paper summarizes and analyzes the research results of pyrometallurgical processing for
the recycling of WPCBs in recent years, and recovery processes such as incineration, pyrolysis, plasma and
molten salt are discussed. Some proposals against the existing problems during pyrometallurgical processing
process were presented. We hope that this paper can provide some certain assistances to policy makers, other
researchers and the practitioners in the WPCB recycling enterprise.

1. Introduction
With the rapid development of the electrical and electronic in-
dustries (EEI), a variety of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) is
becoming increasingly abundant. The output, consumption and per
capital possession have reached unprecedented levels (Ghosh et al.,
2015). In the meantime, the average service life of EEE has substantially
decreased. As a result, EEE waste has been produced in large quantities
(Parajuly et al., 2017). The abandoned and no longer used EEE is called
waste EEE (WEEE). In the past decade, the global production of WEEE
has increased by 8.8% (2004–2011) and 17.6% (2011–2016), and it
will reach 65.4 million tons by 2016 (Alzate et al., 2016). How to deal
with the large amount of WEEE has become a global problem (Hadi
et al., 2013).
The printed circuit boards (PCBs) is an important component of EEE
and the basis of modern EEI (Liu et al., 2016). The PCBs is made up of
glass fiber-enhanced epoxy and many metal materials including pre-
cious metals (Choubey et al., 2015; Gu et al., 2016). The waste printed
circuit boards (WPCBs) contain large amounts of recyclable resources
(Holgersson et al., 2017). The contents of metals, precious metals in
particular, contained in WPCBs are much higher than in the primary
minerals. Therefore, the recycling of WPCBs can bring enormous eco-
nomic benefit (Cucchiella et al., 2016) and making WPCBs becomes a
kinds of important urban mineral resources (He and Duan, 2016).
However, WPCBs has the complex compositions and contains various
toxic substances, such as heavy metals and brominated flame retardants
(BFRs). The traditional treatments such as landfill and incineration will
bring serious environmental pollution. Therefore, WPCBs has both re-
source and pollution elements.
The recycling of WPCBs in the global scope is mainly concentrated
in Asia and Africa. Due to extensive management and backward re-
cycling technologies in the past, toxic substances such as heavy metals,
BFRs, dioxin, and dibenzofuran because the WPCBs treatment caused
serious effects to the ecosystem and human health in these regions (Xu
et al., 2013). These pollutants are difficult to be degraded naturally and
will continue to accumulate in the environment. Therefore, the current
recycling methods not only resulting a serious waste of resources but
also cannot achieve the harmless recycling of WPCBs. In recent years,
an increasing number of studies are underway; pyrolysis, electro-
chemical processes, biohydrometallurgy and supercritical fluid tech-
nology are the hotspots in current study (Fogarasi et al., 2015, 2014;
Guo et al., 2015; Karwowska et al., 2014; Xiu et al., 2015; Yang et al.,
2014; Zhu et al., 2011).
Pyrometallurgical processing is a class of representative recycling
methods. In this paper, current status of WPCBs treatment by pyr-
ometallurgical processing was introduced, and analyzed several main
processes. Some proposals against the existing problems during pyr-
ometallurgical processing process were presented. The harmless treat-
ment of WPCBs recycling is a major global challenge that will continue
into the future.This paper should help to harmonize existing

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: thlibin@sina.com (B. Li).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.08.001
Received 14 April 2017; Received in revised form 27 July 2017; Accepted 2 August 2017
0921-3449/ © 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.
H. Wang et al.
pyrometallurgical processing methods and recommend a useful strategy
for further study in recycling WPCBs.
2. Waste printed circuit boards
2.1. Quality of waste printed circuit boards
In recent years, the worldwide output of PCBs has increased by an
average of 8.7% each year; the average increases are even higher in
southeastern Asia (10.8%) and mainland China (14.4%) (Guanghan
et al., 2016). Fig. 1 shows the annual output of PCBs and the forecasted
trend (Ghosh et al., 2015). It can be seen that the output of PCBs will
continue to increase for a long time. The mass production of PCBs re-
sults in mass waste (Guanghan et al., 2016; Ghosh et al., 2015).
WPCBs mainly originate from the recycling of waste electrical and
electronic equipment (WEEE) (Lu and Xu, 2016). The production of
WEEE is very huge and increases rapidly. Since 2010, approximately
20–50 million tons of WEEE was generated annually, and the output of
WEEE will reach 65.4 million tons in 2016 (Estrada-Ruiz et al., 2016;
Wang and Xu, 2014). Fig. 2 shows that PCBs are widely present in each
piece of EEE. The PCBs content varies to a large extent in different types
of EEE (He and Duan, 2016). WPCBs account for approximately 4%-7%
of the total mass of WEEE, this number is even higher in some kinds of
WEEE such as TVs, computers. and phones (Akcil et al., 2015;
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Resources, Conservation & Recycling 126 (2017) 209–218
Fig 1. Trends in global printed circuit board production and forecast
(2012–2016) in millions of US dollars (Ghosh et al., 2015).
Behnamfard et al., 2013; Estrada-Ruiz et al., 2016; Lu and Xu, 2016). In
the future, more than 3 million tons of WPCBs will need to be recycled
(Lu and Xu, 2016; Estrada-Ruiz et al., 2016; Wang and Xu, 2014; He
and Duan, 2016; Akcil et al., 2015; Behnamfard et al., 2013).
2.2. Structure and composition
Although different kinds of PCBs used in different EEE due to their
different functions, all PCBs mainly consist of the insulating non-me-
tallic polymer substrate, the metal foil laminated layer on the surface or
inside of the substrate and electronic components (ECs) installed on the
substrate. The electronic components on WPCBs will first be dismantled
and collected according to classification; the remaining substrate
components mainly have metallic and non-metallic compositions (Zeng
et al., 2012). In general, the PCBs substrate contains 30–50% of metallic
and 50–70% of non-metallic fractions (NMFs) (Birloaga et al., 2014; Ke
et al., 2013; Rajagopal et al., 2016a,b; Yamane et al., 2011; Zhou and
Qiu, 2010). NMFs include thermosetting resin, reinforcing material,
BFRs and other additives (Du et al., 2016). The thermosetting resins
commonly used in PCBs include epoxy, cyanate ester resin and phenolic
resin; the reinforcing materials include cloth, fiberglass and ceramics
(Hall and Williams, 2007). The most common used PCBs substrate is the
brominated flame retardant blended epoxy resin substrate (BERS). Al-
though BERS affords enough bending strength and fire resistance to
Fig. 2. PCB contents in typical EEE (He and Duan, 2016).
H. Wang et al.
Fig. 3. A flowchart showing the disassembly sequence of the ECs (Park et al., 2015).
PCBs, it also restricts the applicability of the pyro-technologies (in-
cineration, thermal degradation, plasma, etc.) in the recycling WPCBs
(Verma et al., 2016). Copper is the main metal on WPCBs substrate, it
accounts for about 10–20% of the total WPCBs mass. The function of
copper on PCB is as conducting wires to connect the electronic com-
ponents (Yang et al., 2009). In addition to Cu, there are also Al, Fe, Zn,
Pb, As, Au, Ag and Pd and other metals in WPCBs (Akcil et al., 2015;
Fogarasi et al., 2015; Fujita et al., 2014).
2.3. Toxicity
In the past few years, the resulting stockpiling and treatment of
WPCBs have caused very severe environmental impact posed a great
threat to human health. The toxicity of WPCBs mainly originates from
the heavy metals and BFRs in PCBs.
WPCBs contain toxic heavy metals such as Pb, Cr, Hg, As and Cd
(Robinson, 2009). These heavy metals exhibit significant effects on
human health, children in particular. The correlation research indicated
that the heavy metal pollutions in these regions where WPCBs recycling
enterprises are concentrated has caused decreases in the birth weight,
lung function and the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) of children,
and increased the incidence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) as well as the probability of DNA and chromosomal damage
(Zeng et al., 2016). In these areas, the blood lead levels are much higher
than normal values, which will impact the mental development of the
children (Huo et al., 2007; Li et al., 2008a,b). In addition, in these re-
gions the rate of stillbirths has significantly increased (4.72% vs.
1.03%), the birth weight of newborns has decreased (6.12% vs. 4.12%),
the Apgar score has decreased (3.40% vs. 1.57%), and the Pb level of
the neonatal cord blood is in the unsafe range (Xu et al., 2012;
Robinson, 2009; Zeng et al., 2016; Huo et al., 2007; Li et al., 2008a,b).
BFRs usually used in polymer materials to increase flame resistance
and satisfy people's needs to PCBs (Brits et al., 2016). BFRs such as
polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polybrominated biphenyls
(PBBs), tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), hexabromocyclododecane
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Resources, Conservation & Recycling 126 (2017) 209–218
(HBCD), brominated phenyl ethers and bisphenol-A have been widely
used in PCBs (Chen et al., 2012). Since BFRs are unstable, they can be
decomposed to a certain degree at high temperature (Alaee, 2003).
BFRs can generate toxic substances such as PCDD/Fs and PBDD/Fs at
high temperature, which are characterized by persistence and wide-
spread environmental distribution (Brits et al., 2016; Zhang et al.,
2016). This is also the most challenging part of the pyro-recycling. In
the regions where the WPCBs recycling enterprises are concentrated,
dioxins and dibenzofurans are detected in the soil samples, this indicate
that the amount of TCDDs and the intensity of the thermal process are
correlated. The PCDD/Fs contents of most samples are higher than the
standards of many countries, and this will largely increase the cancer
risks of the local residents (Xu et al., 2013, 2016; Brits et al., 2016; Chen
et al., 2012; Alaee, 2003; Zhang et al., 2016).
3. WPCBs recovery through pyrometallurgical processing
3.1. Pretreatment of WPCBs
To simplify the process difficulties of subsequent treatments and
improve the treatment capacity, the electronic components (ECs) on the
WPCBs substrates such as capacitors and resistors should be dismantled
and stored according to appropriate classification (Vanegas et al., 2017;
Ueberschaar et al., 2017). Therefore, the dismantling of ECs from the
WPCBs is the first step for the recycling of the WPCBs. In the past ten
years, the primitive thermally melting solders and manual disassembly
has been used to achieve the separation of ECs from WPCBs substrate.
This method cannot satisfy the large-scale recycling of WPCBs, and it
also causes severe environmental pollution, thus posing a real threat to
human health (Guo et al., 2016).
To resolve this problem, researchers designed a new type of auto-
matic removing production line heated via an infrared heater. The se-
paration efficiency of ECs can reach 94% by using this apparatus (Park
et al., 2015). The process flow is shown in Fig. 3. WPCBs are delivered
to the disassembly module and the solders are heated to the melting
point via the infrared heater. Rotating steel brush rods are used to re-
move the ECs from WPCBs. As shown in Fig. 4, Lee et al. designed an
apparatus to realized separation of ECs by using a grinder, but the se-
paration efficiency of this apparatus was only 75% approximately (Lee
et al., 2012). Recently, Wang et al. manufactured an environmental-
friendly and automatic ECs disassembly system, which uses electrical
heating pipes (EHPS) to melt solders in a custom-made ECs automatic
disassembly machine (ECs-ADM) (Wang et al., 2016). This automatic
disassembly system also contains exhaust purification equipment such
that the zero emission of pollutants is realized.
As knew from previous researches, heat the solders by using in-
frared heater can greatly increase separation efficiency. When WPCBs
are heated, some toxic and harmful substances will be generated. This
requires the addition of exhaust purification equipment on removing
production line. Disassembling ECs through heating is more efficient
than mechanical method in the case of safety.
3.2. Incineration
Incineration is a treatment process that put the diameter of WPCBs
into an incinerator in aerobic conditions. The organic components of
WPCBs are thermally decomposed and combusted at high temperature,
generating CO2 and H2O. The glass fibers and metal oxides in the in-
cineration residues will be recycled via physical and chemical treat-
ments.
All the time, incineration is a kind of traditional, simple and effec-
tive method towaste disposal, and it can achieve WPCBs and energy
recovery (Li et al., 2001). Due to the simple process and low operational
cost, incineration is also a method that has been. Currently, some
smelting plants in Germany and Belgium have started to adopt in-
tegrated smelting technologies to recycle metals in WPCBs. WPCBs are
H. Wang et al.
Fig. 4. A schematic diagram and pictures of the apparatus used in this study for disassembling ECs from WPCBs (Lee et al., 2012).
fed into a high temperature smelting furnace with catalysts for the
petrochemical industries and metallic tailings for incineration. The
temperature of the smelting furnace is usually set above 1000 °C to
reducing the emission of dioxins. Finally, metals are obtained by sorting
(Cui and Zhang, 2008; Hagelüken, 2006; Lehner, 1998; Li et al., 2001).
The Chinese Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection
Group developed a production line based on bath smelting technology,
which can be used in the recycling of WPCBs. As shown in Fig. 5, the
comminuted WPCBs is directly fed into a blast and blown fluidized bed
incinerator and heating up to high temperature zone (> 1250 °C) ra-
pidly. In this process, the organics are speedy decomposed to avoid the
generation of dioxin, and the rapid cooling of the incineration gas also
played the same role. China Nerin Engineering Co., Ltd. developed a
new type of NRTS furnace by using high temperature smelting tech-
nology. WPCBs, copper-containing sludge and miscellaneous copper are
used as the raw materials to produce crude copper. This equipment
includes a cooling tower and an activated carbon jetting system to
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Resources, Conservation & Recycling 126 (2017) 209–218
avoid or largely reduce the emission of pollutants.
Controlling the generation of pollutants such as PCDD/Fs and
PBDD/Fs is the key point of incineration method WPCBs (Duan et al.,
2012). As shown in Fig. 6, researchers used a lab-scale system featuring
a continuously fed drop tube furnace to perform the high-temperature
combustion experiment (Ni et al., 2012). The results showed that the
conversion of brominated flame retardants to HBr and Br2 mainly de-
pended on the combustion temperature. At 1200 °C or above, an excess
air factor (EAF) of 1.3 or above, and a residence time in the high
temperature zone (RTHT) exceeding 0.75 s, brominated organic com-
pounds can be fully decomposed (greater than 99%). To improve the
efficiency and purity of the recycled metals, the traditional incineration
processes are often combined with wet processes (Vats and Singh,
2015). Havlik et al. used 1 M HCl at 80 °C to recycle metals in the in-
cineration products. They found that increasing the combustion tem-
perature can improve the copper extraction into solution to 98% and
can also improve the extraction of Cu and Sn (Havlik et al., 2010).
Fig. 5. A flowchart showing WPCB recovery bath smelting.
H. Wang et al.
Fig. 6. The lab-scale system featuring a continuously-fed drop tube furnace (Ni et al., 2012).
Compared to other pyrometallurgical processing methods, in-
cineration is a kind of primitive recycling technique. Though the pyr-
ometallurgical processing has environmental risks, but it has a very big
advantage in economy. Predictably, pyrometallurgical processing will
still be used for a long time. Accordingly, reduce pollutant generation
and emissions by optimizing the process are the focus of future re-
search.
3.3. Pyrolysis
Pyrolysis is a thermochemical decomposition of organic resins to
generate low-molecular weight substances in the absence of oxygen or
in the presence of inert gases at 350–900 °C (Caballero et al., 2016;
Chen et al., 2015; de Marco et al., 2008; Grause et al., 2008; Guo et al.,
2009; Hall and Williams, 2006; Long et al., 2010; Luda et al., 2010;
Moltó et al., 2011, 2009; Santella et al., 2016; Yang et al., 2013a,b). The
pyrolysis products are condensed to obtain pyrolysis oil and the surplus
non-condensable gases can be used as fuels after heat recovery. The
metals and glass fibers in WPCBs are present in pyrolysis residues
(Chien et al., 2000). Owing to the pyrolysis of WPCBs is carried out in
the absence of oxygen or dioxins cannot be easily generated. In addi-
tion, the recycling of organic resins in WPCBs can be achieved. (Grause
et al., 2008; Long et al., 2010; Caballero et al., 2016; Chen et al., 2015;
de Marco et al., 2008; Guo et al., 2009; Hall and Williams, 2006; Luda
et al., 2010; Moltó et al., 2011, 2009; Santella et al., 2016; Yang et al.,
2013a,b; Chien et al., 2000)
By performing thermo-analytical and kinetics studies of WPCBs low
temperature pyrolysis in a vacuum, N2 and air, Li et al. found that the
vacuum can significantly increase the efficiency of WPCBs’ pyrolysis
recycling (Li et al., 2010). In a study, vacuum pyrolysis and vacuum
centrifugation were used to separate and recycle the WPCBs (Zhou
et al., 2010; Zhou and Qiu, 2010). The pyrolysis gas contained large
amounts of CO2, CH4, CO and H2, which can be collected and recycled.
After vacuum pyrolysis, the pyrolysis residues were fed into the vacuum
centrifugation process toseparate melted solders. The solder-separated
residues contained metals, fiber glass and other inorganic materials,
which can be further processed (Figs. 7 and 8) (Jie et al., 2008; Zhou
and Qiu, 2010; Zhou et al., 2010, 2011; Li et al., 2010).
The pyrolysis oil contains high concentrations of phenol and phenol
derivatives, both of which are considered to be the decomposition
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Resources, Conservation & Recycling 126 (2017) 209–218
products of epoxy (Quan et al., 2010a,b). Pyrolysis oil can be used as
the raw material for the production of phenolic resin, carbon nano-
tubes, porous carbon and asphalt modifiers (Borsodi et al., 2016; Huang
et al., 2011; Quan et al., 2010a,b; Yang et al., 2013a,b). Pyrolysis re-
sidues are easily broken, glass fiber and metallic components can be
easily separated. The metallic components in the pyrolysis residue
mainly include Cu, Ca, Fe, Ni, Zn and Al as well as low concentrations
of valuable metals such as Ga and Bi Au and Ag (Guo et al., 2014; Hall
and Williams, 2007). The metals in the pyrolysis residues can be re-
cycled through mechanical means or wet methods, while the glass fi-
bers can be obtained by 10 min of calcination at 600 °C in a muffle
furnace (Havlik et al., 2010; Long et al., 2010; Quan et al., 2010a,b).
Thermogravimetric analysis and kinetic analysis have been used in
the investigation of the WPCBs pyrolysis, especially the pyrolysis of
tetrabromobisphenol-A in WPCBs (Ortuño et al., 2013; Quan et al.,
2013). The pyrolysis of the organic matter in WPCBs under air condi-
tions can be divided into two stages (280–330 °C and 330–390 °C). The
activation energy of the second stage is larger than that of the first
stage. Therefore, a large amount of thermal energy is needed to pro-
mote pyrolysis into the second stage. Rapid heating, good atmosphere
and a short residence time are beneficial to improve the treatment ef-
ficiency of fluidized bed. The pyrolysis temperature of the tetra-
bromobisphenol-A in WPCBs is between 200 and 5000 °C, its pyrolysis
products are HBr and bromine-containing phenols (the precursors of
PBDD and PBDFs) (Grause et al., 2008; Marongiu et al., 2007; Ortuño
et al., 2013; Quan et al., 2013).
The addition of specific additives can promote the bromine fixation
of brominated flame retardants’ pyrolysis to reduce emission. When the
WPCB is pyrolyzed in the presence of metal oxides (such as Al2O3, ZnO,
Fe2O3, La2O3, CaO, and CuO), the production of hydrogen bromide and
brominatedorganic compounds is markedly inhibited (Blazsó, 2005;
Guan et al., 2012; Jin et al., 2011; Terakado et al., 2013; Wang et al.,
2015). In one study, researchers investigated the debromination effects
of three kinds of Ca-based additives (CaO, Ca(OH)2, and oyster shells)
(Jung et al., 2012). When Ca(OH)2 and oyster shells were added, the
total bromine contents in the pyrolysis oil decreased to 1.3% and 2.7%
respectively. In addition, iron-impregnated alumina oxide catalyst can
be used to control the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
(Chiang and Lin, 2014). Rajagopal et al. used thermo-gravimetric
analysis (TGA) and vertical thermo-gravimetric analysis (VTGA) to
H. Wang et al.
Fig. 8. The schematic illustration of the equipment for the recycling of solder: 1, elec-
tromotor; 2, gland cover; 3, water-cooler; 4, temperature-controlled furnace; 5, diesel oil;
6, reactor; 7, rotating drum; 8, hole; and 9, revolving spindle (Zhou and Qiu, 2010; Zhou
et al., 2010).
study the kinetic behaviors of WPCBs obtained from computer monitors
(SSWPCB) and computer processing boards (MLWPCB) in the presence
of nitrogen (Rajagopal et al., 2016a,b). The activation energy (EA) of
the SSWPCB was markedly lower than that of the MLWPCB. Hao et al.
experimentally confirmed that the addition of coal powder can avoid
the generation of bromine or bromine-containing compound gases in
pyrolysis, as the coal powder can fix bromine to pyrolysis residue(Hao
et al., 2014). Chinese fir sawdust can also be used in the vacuum co-
pyrolysis of WPCBs (Wu and Qiu, 2014, 2015).
There's no doubt that pyrolysis is the focus of current research. The
advantage of pyrolysis is the resin in WPCBs be recycled instead of
simple incineration. Using pyrolysis method, the bromide in WPCB
migrates to pyrolysis oil. This limits the reuse of pyrolysis oils. In ad-
dition, due to the limitation of reaction conditions, pyrolysis reactors
are difficult to achieve on a large scale and limits the industrial appli-
cation of pyrolysis (Blazsó, 2005; Guan et al., 2012; Jin et al., 2011;
Terakado et al., 2013; Wang et al., 2015; Jung et al., 2012; Chiang and
Lin, 2014; Rajagopal et al., 2016a,b; Hao et al., 2014; Wu and Qiu,
2014, 2015).
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Resources, Conservation & Recycling 126 (2017) 209–218
Fig. 7. The schematic illustration of the pyrolysis
system: 1, vacuometer; 2, temperature controlled
furnace; 3, reactor; 4, cold trap; 5, drying tube; 6,
vacuum pump; 7, alkaline solution; and 8, gas col-
lector (Zhou and Qiu, 2010; Zhou et al., 2010).
3.4. Plasma
The recycling of WPCBs by plasma involves the decomposition of
organic matter to gases and the melting of glass fibers to form a vitreous
body in high temperature furnaces by using high efficiency arc plasma.
The resulting gases, vitreous body and remaining metals can be effec-
tively separated. As shown in Fig. 9, WPCBs are delivered to the plasma
reaction chamber. They are melted and incinerated by three plasma
streams. The gases from incineration are discharged into the atmo-
sphere after recycling, the metals and furnace slags are recycled and
reused (Szalatkiewicz, 2013; Szałatkiewicz et al., 2013). Fig. 10 shows
the cross-section of the reactor. This testing equipment have a WPCBs
recycling capacity of 700 kg/day, and the energy consumption is 2
kWh/kg. The average metal recycling rate of the testing equipment is
76%, and the mass of WPCBs decreased by 45% after recycling. Com-
pared to other methods, Plasma only benefit to recycle the WPCBs
enriched in precious metals. Its range of application is greatly limited.
3.5. Molten salt
In the molten salt process, the molten salt is used to separate liquid
or solid-state metal products at high temperature by using the inert and
stable molten salt as the direct heat-conducting fluid. The molten salt
reactor is a U-shaped reactor that is filled with continuous liquid; the
bottom of the reactor adopts an incline design. Researchers used molten
KOH-NaOH eutectic to dissolve glass, oxides and resin components in
WPCBs and also ensured that the most valuable metals were not oxi-
dized (Fig. 11) (Riedewald and Sousa-Gallagher, 2015). This method
can effectively recycle Cu-rich metal fractions and remove the glass
fiber and resin components in WPCBs. The emission gas is mostly en-
vironmentally friendly. In addition, a large amount of hydrogen can be
produced in the absence of oxygen for this process, it can be used as fuel
gas or synthetic gas. Flandinet et al. designed a U-shaped reactor as the
WPCB recycling reactor. For safety, the inert and stable LiCl-KCl molten
salt was used as the continuous direct heat transfer liquid (Flandinet
et al., 2012; Riedewald and Sousa-Gallagher, 2015).
4. Final remarks
With the global economic growth and improvement of living stan-
dards, the quantity of EEE, and the increase in its rate of obsolescence,
the annual output of PCBs is forecast to increase. It remains a lasting
focus to decrease the environmental pollution and threat to human
health via scientifically based methods for recycling WPCBs. It is found
through the investigation of WPCBs recycling technologies in recent
years that positive progress has been made in studies related to the
recycling of WPCBs through pyrometallurgical processing, which can
provide some thought and direction to resolve the problem of the in-
dustrial large-scale recycling of WPCBs and promote life-cycle man-
agement. These are mainly manifested as follows:
(1) Introduce life-cycle management for the PCBs products and de-
crease the output of WPCBs from their source. Due to the ac-
celerated consumption cycles of EEE, their actual life is significantly
shorter than their designed life. As a result, the process from the
design and manufacturing to the obsolescence and recycling is
H. Wang et al.
Fig. 9. Block diagram of the designed process for research over high temperature plasma technology (Szalatkiewicz, 2013; Szałatkiewicz et al., 2013).
shortened. Additionally, this causes the rapid growth of the output
of second-hand products. On the other hand, the waste products
still retain much residual device value. To decrease the output and
final treatment capacity of WPCBs and obtain efficient reuse of
second-hand products and used devices, we recommend introdu-
cing life-cycle management to the design of PCBs products, ap-
plying and promoting the concept of ecological design, and ade-
quately considering the disassembly of the ECs on WPCBs as well as
the recyclability of the WPCB substrate.
(2) Further improve the extended producer responsibility (EPR) and
ensure that the EEE manufacturers earnestly perform their WPCB
environmental protection responsibility. We recommend, via legal
and policy means, to demand that the EEE manufacturers earnestly
perform their environmental responsibility. We also recommend
establishing WEEE treatment funds by imposing fees on these
manufacturers to subsidize the disassembly and treatment
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Resources, Conservation & Recycling 126 (2017) 209–218
Fig. 10. Cross section through a plasma reactor with the material flow
presented. Waste and molten product-orange arrows, plasma stream-black
arrow, fumes-red arrow (Szalatkiewicz, 2013; Szałatkiewicz et al., 2013).
(For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the
reader is referred to the web version of this article).
enterprises so as to effectively create incentives for the latter to
research and adopt advanced technologies, thus improving the
environmental protection and profitability of the latter. We further
recommend establishing EEE ecological design standards to couple
the amount of fees collected from the EEE manufacturers and the
level of the ecological design of their products so that the output of
the WPCBs is reduced starting from the product design and manu-
facturing.
(3) How should WPCB pyrometallurgical processing recycling tech-
nologies be selected? We need to select the appropriate WPCB
treatment technologies by taking into account the source and main
compositions of the WPCBs and perform a comprehensive analysis
from multiple angles including technology, the economy and the
environmental impact. For example, pyrolysis and molten salt can
achieve the recycling of organic resins in WPCBs, and therefore,
they are recommended to be used in the recycling of WPCBs that
H. Wang et al.
contain low metal contents and high organic resin contents. Plasma
is only applicable to recycle WPCBs that contain high rare and
precious metal contents. Incineration is the only pyrometallurgical
processing recycling method that has achieved industrial large-
scale use; its main advantage is the ability to treat the various
WPCBs. In addition, the manufacturers can adopt the treatment
technologies that integrate several of the aforementioned recycling
methods based on the source, composition and implementation
conditions of the WPCBs.
(4) How should WPCB incineration recycling technology be further
developed? One of the keys to apply the incineration method is to
efficiently avoid the generation of brominated flame-retardants and
emission of dioxins. The combined use of a rapidly increasing
temperature during combustion, the rapid cooling of gases and the
adsorption of exhaust by activated carbon can effectively reduce the
emission of dioxins during the incineration process. Second, the
incineration products of brominated flame-retardants are corrosive
and decrease the life of incineration furnaces. This concern has
raised the standards for the design and refractory material for the
incinerator chambers. Third, due to the large amount of heat re-
leased from the combustion of the large amount of organic matter
contained in WPCBs and because of the instability of the released
heat due to the non-uniformity of the organic matter content in
each batch of waste, this can lead to over-heating combustion in the
incinerator, which will adversely impact the life of the incinerator
chamber and the refractory materials, but it also results in in-
creasing the difficulty of maintaining the thermal equilibrium in-
side the chamber. We can also consider the mixing of WPCBs and
copper-containing waste of low heat value to properly decrease the
heat value of the unit feed and explore the smelting of multiple
copper-containing wastes as well as the concentrations of copper
and other metals. Lastly, in the incineration recycling of precious
metals from WPCBs, the efficiency and partition coefficient of the
slagged metals from the smelting and slagging are correlated. The
216
Resources, Conservation & Recycling 126 (2017) 209–218
Fig. 11. Layout and P & ID of the laboratory scale PCB
separation/pyrolysis experiments (T = temperature
gauge, F = nitrogen flow meter, N2 = nitrogen,
a = 45°, 1 = pyrolysis vessel, 2 = condenser,
3 = glass flask).
correlation is directly affected by the variety and output of metals in
the WPCB, selection of the slagging flux, atmospheric control, and
control of the slagging types, and these aspects still require further
in-depth investigation.
(5) How should WPCB pyrolysis recycling technology be further de-
veloped? First, overall, pyrolysis technology imposes high demands
on the recycling conditions, pyrolysis equipment and control of
processing parameters, which in turn impose challenges to the re-
cycling cost. Second, the pyrolysis products of brominated flame-
retardants in WPCBs are present as dioxin precursors in the pyr-
olysis oil. Therefore, we can consider adding special additives to
remove these precursors in the pyrolysis process. However, related
studies are still in progress; the selection and mechanism of the
additive will remain the main research direction in this area.
Furthermore, in addition to providing heat as fuel, the utilization of
pyrolysis oil as a resource for the production of raw materials still
lacks diversity. Therefore, the exploration of the economic and ra-
tional utilization of pyrolysis oil still remains at the laboratory re-
search stage.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from
Interdisciplinary Beijing Municipal Key Discipline “Resources,
Environment and Recycling Economy” Project (033000541214001),
Beijing 2011 Construction Projects “Synergy Innovation Center of
Capital Resources Circulation Materials Technology”, Beijing Natural
Science Foundation (2174065), Beijing University of Technology Basic
Research Foundation (PXM2017_014204_500087), Enterprise commis-
sioned project (40104001201606).
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