Mechanically sorting electronic components from discarded printed circuit boards to enable recycling of critical raw materials

Critical raw materials (CRMs) are one of the enablers of a sustainable future due to their importance in green technologies. Yet, their own circularity and end-of-life recycling rates have been lacking as their concentrations are too low in waste products to be efficiently recycled. This is not the case, however, for discarded printed circuit boards where different types of electronics components (ECs) use specific CRMs in high concentrations. Furthermore, due to worldwide manufacturing standards these ECs are consistent between different printed circuit boards (PCBs) in their physical characteristics such as size, shape and material composition. Yet at the moment no sorting methods exist that can separate ECs from modern PCBs. Therefore, we aim to evaluate multiple simple yet effective mechanical separation methods to sort said ECs with CRM recovery in mind. First of all, ECs from flat-panel displays were sieved into a small (<4 mm), medium (4 - 10 mm) and large fraction (>10 mm). This was followed by a roll sorter to separate thinner components, like IC chips, from similarly sized thicker ECs. In order to separate the components based on ferromagnetic composition an innovative overbelt ferromagnetic separator was developed where the magnetic field strength continuously decreased over the length of the belt. Lastly, the different types of ECs were analysed by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy to identify the presence of any CRMs. Our study shows that by combining these three different sorting technologies it is possible to sort the ECs in a way that the majority of CRM containing components are concentrated in only 21.09 wt% of the total weight. This in turn results in significantly higher CRM concentrations, thus removing a major limitation to their recovery and improving CRM circularity for a more sustainable future.