INVESTIGATION OF ABILITY LIBERATION OF METALS FROM PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARDS BY MECHANICAL PROCESSES FOR PHYSICAL SEPARATION PROCESSES

Abstract

Physical separation process was widely applied for the separation of metallic component from Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) due to their advantages as friendly-environment, facilitated control, and low-cost. However, the efficiency of physical separation depends on a level of the liberation between the metallic and non-metallic components which is conducted by mechanical processing.In this study, the liberation of metals from computer PCBs was conducted in detail by mechanical processes including cutting and crushing. The obtained results demonstrate the distribution metallic and non-metallic component weighs as a function of particle sizes. The separation efficiency of metals was conducted by air separation using vacuum sorter equipment. The results showed that the comminution processes using hammer mill for reach the highest efficiency with 92 % recovery and 87 % grade of metallic components in the heavy fraction with particle size 1.0 - 1.4 mm by air separation process.