A new technology for recycling materials from waste printed circuit boards

Waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) contain lots of valuable resources together with plenty of hazardous materials, which are considered both an attractive secondary resource and an environmental contaminant. In this research, a new process of "centrifugal separation+vacuum pyrolysis" for the combined recovery of solder and organic materials from WPCBs was investigated. The results of centrifugal separation indicated that the separation of solder from WPCBs was complete when WPCBs were heated at 240 degrees C, and the rotating drum was rotated at 1400 rpm for 6 min intermittently. The results of vacuum pyrolysis showed that the type-A of WPCBs without solder pyrolysed to form an average of 69.5 wt% residue, 27.8 wt% oil, and 2.7 wt% gas; and pyrolysis of the type-B of WPCBs without solder led to an average mass balance of 75.7 wt% residue, 20.0 wt% oil, and 4.3 wt% gas. The pyrolysis residues contain various metals, glass fibers and other inorganic materials, which could be recycled for further processing. The pyrolysis oils can be used for fuel or chemical feedstock and the pyrolysis gases can be collected and combusted for the pyrolysis self-sustain. This clean and non-polluting technology offers a new way to recycle valuable materials from WPCBs and prevent the environmental pollution of WPCBs effectively.