Intelligent disassembly of components from printed circuit boards to enable re-use and more efficient recovery of critical metals

Based on previous experiences in intelligent disassembly of components from printed circuit boards our goal was to develop an economic solution for reducing the amount of material for the later hydrometallurgical recovery process and to recognize reusable parts on printed circuit boards. Usually the hydrometallurgical recovery process is very time consuming and therefore the recovery rate still relatively low. Therefore, it is beneficial to enrich the content of critical metals in the input fraction by extracting only those components from printed circuit boards that are rich in the target metals (e.g. tantalum, rare earth, platinum group metals). In addition, there are reusable parts on printed circuit boards which have a high enough resell value on the market. These components must be dismantled, but in a more careful way in order not to destroy the function of the component by thermal or mechanical influences. One advanced possibility for solving both problems is the adaptation of our semi-automated, flexible disassembly cell for printed circuit boards. This modular cell was developed some years ago for removing re-useable electronic components from old as well as new printed circuit boards. Main modules are a transportation system, a vision system and heating-unsoldering stations. In this contribution, this new approach will be described from the technological as well as from the economic point of view.