Any good ideas how to process computer scrap big scale

[4metals]

The most prudent method is to pyrolyze the boards and sift out the metallic fractions. They will be mostly copper with solder and any PM's. Then use that big furnace to smelt the lot to remove all of the metals except copper and the PM's. The resulting bars are referred to in the industry as copper based bullion. The copper based material is then processed in a copper cell to recover pure copper and retain all of the PM's in the anode slimes. The anode slimes are then refined in aqua regia to purify the metals for sale. ALL of these topics are covered extensively in the Library.

The powders that result from pyrolysis are typically crushed and sifted to make a fine powder which is usually shipped to a smelter, the benefit of making it into a powder is that it is a sample-able material which can be assayed before shipping. This is exceptionally low grade material as compared to the copper based metal fraction.

The copper based bullion can also be shipped to an outside refiner as it too is a homogeneously mixed bar and as such, reliably sampleable.

For your friends benefit he is now equipped to melt the copper based bullion and start by shipping (after assaying in house) to a refiner and later when quantities warrant, set up to run his own copper cells.

Most large operators following this line of processing start by granulating the incoming boards into small pieces for processing. This makes handling and proportioning the lot sizes easier.

What your friend should use to his advantage is the processing in a way to provide himself with quantifiable fractions which can be outsourced until he is ready to expand to the next stage of processing. All the while letting the profits from his preliminary processing fund his expansion.

 

[GoIdman]

Yes exactly what happened .I warned him couple years ago .that not easy to do it your self .he didn't listen .and yes he need some one very expert .and electrolysis . He's got his licence from the government and build big place .the furnace and some equipment from italy.the furnace it's very big at least 500 k just the furnace .I will place a picture some time .iwill try to help him get started some how.he was making a lot of money sending the stuff to Europe .

There is more to e-waste than most people think, that is why i have started my "0 waste" series on youtube.
Boards can be recycled almost 95% but it needs proper equipment.
As Martijn described, a shaker table is the best way yet to separate all material, fiber, magnetic, plastics and everything else. Jason from MBMM demonstrates how it works.
There are ways to reuse all these materials to create usable and sellable end products thus making extra profits and steady incomes.
It is not just the PM that are valuable in a PCB.

Be safe

Pete.

 

[Biom]

The most prudent method is to pyrolyze the boards and sift out the metallic fractions. They will be mostly copper with solder and any PM's. Then use that big furnace to smelt the lot to remove all of the metals except copper and the PM's. The resulting bars are referred to in the industry as copper based bullion. The copper based material is then processed in a copper cell to recover pure copper and retain all of the PM's in the anode slimes. The anode slimes are then refined in aqua regia to purify the metals for sale. ALL of these topics are covered extensively in the Library.

The powders that result from pyrolysis are typically crushed and sifted to make a fine powder which is usually shipped to a smelter, the benefit of making it into a powder is that it is a sample-able material which can be assayed before shipping. This is exceptionally low grade material as compared to the copper based metal fraction.

The copper based bullion can also be shipped to an outside refiner as it too is a homogeneously mixed bar and as such, reliably sampleable.

For your friends benefit he is now equipped to melt the copper based bullion and start by shipping (after assaying in house) to a refiner and later when quantities warrant, set up to run his own copper cells.

Most large operators following this line of processing start by granulating the incoming boards into small pieces for processing. This makes handling and proportioning the lot sizes easier.

What your friend should use to his advantage is the processing in a way to provide himself with quantifiable fractions which can be outsourced until he is ready to expand to the next stage of processing. All the while letting the profits from his preliminary processing fund his expansion.

Yes we working on it now .there is refiner from Switzerland call me .I think it's good idea to do the first part .and sale to refiner to finish it .or add more equipment to electrlyes the material .this is in Morocco the labor is very very sheep that's how he's making most the profit. Refining this it's not easy .he's dealing with a lot of material and a lot of copper . The gold not bad

 

[Biom]

There is more to e-waste than most people think, that is why i have started my "0 waste" series on youtube.
Boards can be recycled almost 95% but it needs proper equipment.
As Martijn described, a shaker table is the best way yet to separate all material, fiber, magnetic, plastics and everything else. Jason from MBMM demonstrates how it works.
There are ways to reuse all these materials to create usable and sellable end products thus making extra profits and steady incomes.
It is not just the PM that are valuable in a PCB.

Be safe

Pete.

Shaker table looks very safe .iwill give him that option too . I didn't ask him how he separate the material yet may be by hand cause of the sheep labor .iwill see him this week and what he's options thank you pete

 

[kurtak]

This video may help

https://advchem.com/videos/19-videos/64-acc-incineration-process
Kurt

 

[kurtak]

when I visited him he showed me this scrap he made after melting

First question --- per the bold print - are you talking about the second picture in your first post ?

If so - it looks to me like he is just letting everything cool down in the crucible - after the smelting - & then breaking the crucible away - after the melt cools down --- is that right ?

Also - is he just putting the whole circuit boards in the furnace & trying to smelt them ?

Or - is he sheading the circuit boards first - then putting them in the furnace to smelt them ?

Or - is he incinerating the circuit boards (ether whole - or - after sheading) - then putting them in the furnace to smelt

Is he using any flux in the smelting

If so - what kind of flux - & how much flux

In other words - we need MUCH MORE information on EXACTLY what he is doing - before we can even begin to really help him/you out

To really help him/you out here we need - not only a very clear & detailed description of each & every step in the process you are currently doing - but also pictures of what you are doing in each of those steps

Kurt

 

[4metals]

The incineration shown at Advanced requires a large amount of fume scrubbing to get permitted in the USA. Printed circuits smoke a lot. Pyrolysis makes the smoke a lot less of an issue as it re-burns the smoke and volatiles effectively and makes the scrubbing of the micro-fine smoke particles more effective.

The video posted earlier in the thread, using the shaker table, may work for some types of scrap but I think a portion of the values would remain on the fines and not be recovered. Shaker tables are not a new technology but they have been improved to the point where they are quite effective with the proper feed material. There must be a reason why a majority of the industry sticks with incineration/pyrolysis when dealing with the majority of the e-scrap that the average e-scrap refiner sees.

It has been my experience that a ton of computer scrap generates about 300 pounds of copper for smelting. I did not mention this earlier (my omission, ooops) but the granulated parts should be magnetically separated to get out any magnetics. As per Kurts question about the crucible shaped copper pieces, what size processing lot did that represent?

 

[Biom]

First question --- per the bold print - are you talking about the second picture in your first post ?

If so - it looks to me like he is just letting everything cool down in the crucible - after the smelting - & then breaking the crucible away - after the melt cools down --- is that right ?

Also - is he just putting the whole circuit boards in the furnace & trying to smelt them ?

Or - is he sheading the circuit boards first - then putting them in the furnace to smelt them ?

Or - is he incinerating the circuit boards (ether whole - or - after sheading) - then putting them in the furnace to smelt

Is he using any flux in the smelting

If so - what kind of flux - & how much flux

In other words - we need MUCH MORE information on EXACTLY what he is doing - before we can even begin to really help him/you out

To really help him/you out here we need - not only a very clear & detailed description of each & every step in the process you are currently doing - but also pictures of what you are doing in each of those steps

Kurt

Because sheep labor they break every thing apart and melt the metal iwill add some pictures of the fernance .I wasn't there whene they melt but he said they just dompet in cast iron but it come up like that they can't break the crosble to expansive

 

[Biom]

The incineration shown at Advanced requires a large amount of fume scrubbing to get permitted in the USA. Printed circuits smoke a lot. Pyrolysis makes the smoke a lot less of an issue as it re-burns the smoke and volatiles effectively and makes the scrubbing of the micro-fine smoke particles more effective.

The video posted earlier in the thread, using the shaker table, may work for some types of scrap but I think a portion of the values would remain on the fines and not be recovered. Shaker tables are not a new technology but they have been improved to the point where they are quite effective with the proper feed material. There must be a reason why a majority of the industry sticks with incineration/pyrolysis when dealing with the majority of the e-scrap that the average e-scrap refiner sees.

It has been my experience that a ton of computer scrap generates about 300 pounds of copper for smelting. I did not mention this earlier (my omission, ooops) but the granulated parts should be magnetically separated to get out any magnetics. As per Kurts question about the crucible shaped copper pieces, what size processing lot did that represent?

They sapariting every thing cause sheep labor and he melt in big furnance that what they doing so far . But they and tesaul is the big bars with almost 71 percent copper .electlyses is the key at this point . The table sheker it's not bad idea but they have to take that too as consideration

 

[Biom]

This is the furnance it's soo big

 

[4metals]

Thank you for the photos. So they are granulating everything and probably doing a magnetic separation. Then they just feed that into the furnace. I am sure it smokes heavily, enough that the cover on the crucible makes sure the smoke is directly removed to any pollution control devices.
Is it possible to oxygen sparge the melt to oxidize the metals other than copper and PM’s? Your goal for electrolysis is to have a copper based bar in excess of 95% copper for ease of use in the copper cell.
Ideally you would use the furnace for the circuit board pieces and then after it has been emptied and cleaned, add back the copper produced to melt it with a proper flux with oxygen sparging.

 

[4metals]

I just saw the latest photo’s you added. Been shopping at Italimpianti I see.
You have a separate melt furnace so you are equipped to remove the undesirable metals from the copper bullion.

Once you perfect the fluxing and sparging times you will be ready for electrolysis.

Do you have photos of the scrubber for the furnace?

 

[Biom]

I just saw the latest photo’s you added. Been shopping at Italimpianti I see.
You have a separate melt furnace so you are equipped to remove the undesirable metals from the copper bullion.

Once you perfect the fluxing and sparging times you will be ready for electrolysis.

Do you have photos of the scrubber for the furnace?

I will take some more pictures if iam there .iam not sure .the equipment from Italy .iwill ask them again how they did it and kind flux .they don't know nothing yet about refining .

 

[Biom]

I will take some more pictures if iam there .iam not sure .the equipment from Italy .iwill ask them again how they did it and kind flux .they don't know nothing yet about refining .

There is a big furnace and an other one smaller in the other side .

 

[4metals]

i will ask them again how they did it and kind flux .they don't know nothing yet about refining .

Maybe I'm old fashioned, I know I'm at least old, but I always thought the smart thing to do was to learn about the process before putting down the substantial sums of money that they spent on this equipment.

But fear not, you have come to the right place! If your friend is willing to share the information on his material and his process we can guide him to success. He will likely be quite impressed with the greater yields he sees when processing in house.

 

[Biom]

Maybe I'm old fashioned, I know I'm at least old, but I always thought the smart thing to do was to learn about the process before putting down the substantial sums of money that they spent on this equipment.

But fear not, you have come to the right place! If your friend is willing to share the information on his material and his process we can guide him to success. He will likely be quite impressed with the greater yields he sees when processing in house.

This company is the first in north Africa it's in Morocco .he use to send containers full to Europe . Refining this not easy . He spend .a lot of money .now he will add electrlises for sure .there this company I think interested to purchase his product from Europe .to finish the refining part he need to go farwards with electrolytes .he's antentions is to melt about 6 tons a month .he's big and get out at least 5 kilo gold a month .

 

[Biom]

The labor in Morocco very sheep that's he's adventage

This company is the first in north Africa it's in Morocco .he use to send containers full to Europe . Refining this not easy . He spend .a lot of money .now he will add electrlises for sure .there this company I think interested to purchase his product from Europe .to finish the refining part he need to go farwards with electrolytes .he's antentions is to melt about 6 tons a month .he's big and get out at least 5 kilo gold a month .

 

[4metals]

his intention is to melt about 6 tons a month he is big and gets out at least 5 kilo gold a month .

I hope you do not mind but I’ve edited your quote for spelling. Don’t take this the wrong way because unlike being bi-lingual like you, I only speak English, and as this forum is in English it may be easier for some to understand. (BTW, there are many native English speakers here who could benefit from edits as well!)

Now to your quote. 6 tons a month of circuit boards or incoming e-scrap? The distinction is critical because 6 tons of incoming e-scrap (whole computers, phones, etc.) is not a lot. Generally one person, properly set up to disassemble, can strip a ton of incoming e-scrap in one day. After the metal casings and fans and all of the non circuit board materials are removed it is usually 300 ish pounds of Copper so let’s say 400 pounds of circuit boards ready to granulate and de-magnetize. That makes about 18% by weight circuit boards. Let’s call it 20%. So that means to produce 6 tons a month he would need an incoming volume of 30 tons a month before disassembly. That is why the distinction is critical. These % numbers may vary but it is a good ballpark starting figure to start from.

Anyway, yielding 5kg of gold a month, I am inclined to believe the 6 tons is pure circuit boards.

Knowing where to start from is critical when setting up your electrolytic cells because you need to size your cells accordingly.

 

[Shark]

Now to your quote. 6 tons a month of circuit boards or incoming e-scrap? The distinction is critical because 6 tons of incoming e-scrap (whole computers, phones, etc.) is not a lot. Generally one person, properly set up to disassemble, can strip a ton of incoming e-scrap in one day. After the metal casings and fans and all of the non circuit board materials are removed it is usually 300 ish pounds of Copper so let’s say 400 pounds of circuit boards ready to granulate and de-magnetize. That makes about 18% by weight circuit boards. Let’s call it 20%. So that means to produce 6 tons a month he would need an incoming volume of 30 tons a month before disassembly. That is why the distinction is critical. These % numbers may vary but it is a good ballpark starting figure to start from.

Anyway, yielding 5kg of gold a month, I am inclined to believe the 6 tons is pure circuit boards.

Knowing where to start from is critical when setting up your electrolytic cells because you need to size your cells accordingly.

This could be another great thread in the making!

 

[4metals]

This could be another great thread in the making!

Well let us hope. In the last potentially great thread, the OP got cold feet when he got enough out of us that he stopped giving feed back.