Precious metals recovered from electrical scrap in a demo plant

3.10.2016

Where will the EU get rare earth metals for its smart technology and renewable energy needs in the future? A Finnish consortium believes that it will come from electrical and electronic waste (EWS).

A consortium led by the Finnish Technology Industries is planning a recycling plant in Finland to recover valuable metals from electrical and electronic waste. The aim is to first build a pilot-scale plant in Finland. After that, the aim is to develop an export concept for EEE recycling.

The demonstration plant is based on a hydrometallurgical method developed at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Jyväskylä, which is used to remove rare earth metals from circuit boards and other electronic waste.

The Department of Chemistry at the University of Jyväskylä is developing selective extraction methods for the recovery of critical metals such as gold, palladium, platinum, rare earth metals, tellurium, indium, scandium and rubidium. Of these, earth metals such as neodymium, gadolinium and europium are needed in, among other things, LED lights, electric car batteries and the construction of wind turbines.

According to the researchers' test results, rare earth metals can be separated efficiently. Tests have also been conducted this year on, for example, ash from power plants and lithium-ion batteries from electric and hybrid cars.

Shortage of critical materials

Electrical and electronic waste has been a major concern for decades, with around 50 million tons of waste generated globally each year.

With digitalization and the shortening of product life cycles, the number of electrical and electronic devices continues to grow – and so does the demand for raw materials, in addition to the amount of scrap.

For example, LED lighting has grown faster than expected and now the availability of the essential trace elements needed for manufacturing threatens to become a bottleneck. Other significant new applications for trace elements include electric car batteries and wind turbines.

It is estimated that currently only about 15 percent of electrical and electronic waste is properly treated worldwide. Precious earth metals are hardly recovered. Finland, like other European countries, is dependent on imports of several critical materials from China.

Electrical and electronic equipment, especially professional electronics, contains very high concentrations of precious metals and several rare earth metals. New metal separation methods enable manufacturers of high-tech products to recover critical metals from waste materials instead of having to mine the minerals.

Plant near the origin of the scrap

Based on the demo plant, the plan is to develop container-sized processing units that can be easily transported close to scrap generation sites.

The demonstration plant project is currently assembling a consortium so that interested companies and other actors can start commercializing the concept. At the same time, the development of the processing process and the planning of the construction of the demonstration plant will continue. The demonstration plant is one of key projects of the national circular economy roadmap.

The project also offers an opportunity to develop product design and experiment with the use of remote tags. Design can significantly influence the separability and recyclability of materials, as well as reducing waste. Digitalization is part of the solution.

Products can be accompanied by information on material content and product disassembly instructions, which can accompany the product throughout its life cycle. The use of robotics and automation is also being developed, although the disassembly of electrical and electronic devices is still largely manual.