Printed circuit boards consist of resin, fiberglass substrates and a variety of electronic components. They are widely used in smartphones, computers, communications equipment, aerospace and military industries. With the rapid growth of the electronics industry, the volume of waste PCBs and production scraps keeps rising sharply.
Waste PCBs contain hazardous substances that require proper disposal. Meanwhile, they are rich in valuable heavy metals and precious metals, regarded as high-potential secondary resources. Efficient and eco-friendly recycling of waste circuit boards carries great economic and environmental benefits.
At present, three mainstream technologies are adopted to recover metals from waste PCBs globally: thermal treatment, hydrometallurgy and physical mechanical separation.
- Thermal treatment This process burns waste PCBs in high-temperature furnaces to remove resin and non-metallic fractions, followed by pyrometallurgy and electrolysis to extract precious metals from ash residues. The obvious drawback is that combustion generates toxic fumes including dioxins, furans and polychlorinated biphenyls, which cause severe secondary pollution and threaten human health.
- Hydrometallurgical processing Developed based on mineral smelting, hydrometallurgy uses large amounts of chemical reagents for metal leaching. Compared with thermal treatment, it produces fewer toxic flue gases and consumes less energy. However, it brings wastewater pollution and massive water consumption.
- Mechanical physical separation This technology adopts dry crushing and physical sorting to separate copper, aluminum, iron and other metals from waste circuit boards. The metal recovery rate can reach over 99%.
Our PCB recycling machinery adopts the mechanical physical separation process, which is one of the most environmentally friendly methods available for waste PCB treatment. Featuring large processing capacity, low energy consumption and high efficiency, it has become a preferred separation solution for waste circuit boards.
We are a professional manufacturer of waste PCB recycling equipment and precious metal extraction systems for circuit boards. Our complete lines help customers safely recover base metals and precious metals from scrap circuit boards with stable performance and reliable output.
