Dry Physical PCB Separation Equipment for Copper, Gold, Silver & Palladium Recovery

Overview

E-waste has become one of the fastest-growing waste streams worldwide. Waste computer motherboards, mobile PCBs, industrial control boards and server circuit boards contain abundant copper and precious metals, known as “urban mines”. We are a professional manufacturer of complete waste PCB recycling production lines. Our dry physical crushing & separation solution processes all types of discarded circuit boards, helping recycling operators raise metal recovery rates and run compliant operations while avoiding environmental violations caused by illegal acid leaching.

1. Processable Materials

Our full production line handles a wide range of waste circuit boards and PCB scraps:

• PC & laptop motherboards, server motherboards, graphics card boards
• Mobile phone mainboards, telecom base station boards, optical modems, switch boards
• Industrial control boards, medical PCBs, automotive circuit boards, home appliance motherboards (air conditioners, TVs etc.)
• Gold-plated boards, thick gold boards, multi-layer PCBs, surplus defective PCBs, PCB offcuts

Business note: Intact and repairable motherboards can be sorted manually for second-hand resale. Scrapped circuit boards go into our production line to physically separate copper, gold, silver, palladium, tin and resin powder.

2. Material Value Analysis

Metal content varies greatly for different circuit boards and directly determines project profit: ✅ High-value feedstock: Gold-plated boards, thick gold boards, server/medical & military-grade boards, high-end multi-layer boards with rich precious metals ✅ Medium-value feedstock: Desktop PC motherboards, regular mobile boards, home appliance PCBs, mainly for copper recovery ✅ Low-value mixed boards: Low-end power supply boards, single-sided base boards with low metal content

The market price fluctuates with global precious metal quotes, board cleanliness, battery/foreign material contamination and processing volume. Pre-operation reminder: Wipe data completely and remove CMOS batteries from boards with storage chips to avoid data leakage and safety risks. Our line can handle mixed raw materials, or separately process high-value gold-plated boards to maximize recovery and revenue per ton.

3. Production Process (Eco-friendly Dry Physical Technology)

Adopt dry crushing, air gravity sorting and high-voltage electrostatic separation. No strong acid wet leaching, no toxic waste liquid, complying with emission standards in Europe, Southeast Asia, Middle East and other regions.

1. Pre-treatment: Sort materials, dismantle heat sinks, batteries and large components, remove impurities; optional electronic component dismantling machine
2. Crushing & milling: Multi-stage shredding and fine grinding to turn PCBs into mixed powder of metal and resin fiber
3. Separation & purification: Vibrating screening, air separation and electrostatic separator to split metal powder from resin powder with high metal purity
4. Dust collection: Full set of pulse negative pressure dust removal system to seal dust and keep workshop clean
5. Final products: High-purity metal mixture (can be sent to refineries for further gold, silver, palladium and copper refining); resin powder for material recycling

⚠️ Important warning: Strong acid leaching in small illegal workshops causes severe soil & water pollution and violates environmental laws. Our physical recycling line is the preferred solution for compliant projects.

4. Core Advantages

1. High metal recovery rate: Optimized electrostatic separation technology ensures high recovery of copper and precious metals, boosting profit per ton of scrap
2. Eco-friendly dry process: No chemical reagents or wastewater. Complete dust control system to meet international environmental regulations and simplify local EIA approval
3. Automatic PLC-controlled line: Continuous pipeline operation with low labor cost. Customizable capacity: small test lines (100kg/h) up to large-scale lines over 1000kg/h
4. Flexible raw material compatibility: Process mixed PCBs, gold-plated boards and scraps. Clients can manually pick high-value boards for separate sales before feeding waste boards into the line
5. Turnkey service: Line design, manufacturing, factory pre-testing, overseas on-site installation, operator training, 12-month warranty for main components
6. Project support: Workshop layout, process planning and profit calculation to help you evaluate project feasibility

5. Target Buyers

• E-waste recycling companies & solid waste resource recovery enterprises
• PCB dismantling plants & precious metal smelters
• Factory dismantling firms, waste home appliance & telecom equipment recyclers
• Investors building new e-waste recycling projects

6. Cooperation Workflow

1. Requirement discussion: Raw material types, target hourly capacity, local environmental rules and workshop dimension
2. Custom solution: Layout design, equipment configuration, quotation and profit estimation
3. Contract confirmation, manufacturing and factory testing
4. Container shipment, overseas engineer on-site installation & staff training
5. After-sales maintenance, long-term spare parts & technical support

7. Tips to Maximize Profit

1. Sort materials: Separate high-value gold-plated & server boards from low-grade mixed scrap to avoid low bulk pricing
2. Tiered operation: Sell functional repairable motherboards separately to second-hand spare part buyers for higher returns; only fully scrapped boards enter the recycling line
3. Long-term stable supply: Our recycling line delivers consistent high-purity metal output, allowing you to sell directly to precious metal refineries and cut middleman costs

Closing

As e-waste & hazardous waste regulations tighten globally, eco-friendly dry PCB recycling plants have become mainstream investment in the circuit board recycling sector. We specialize in manufacturing waste PCB recycling equipment and deliver stable, compliant and high-profit motherboard & circuit board resource recovery solutions for worldwide clients. Contact us for customized proposals and quotations.