Recovery of Copper from Waste Printed Circuit Boards by High-temperature Milling Process

Woo-chul Jung; Byoungyong Im; Dae-Geun Kim

doi:10.7844/kirr.2024.33.4.22

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2024 Vol.33, Issue 4 Preview Page Next Page

Research Paper

Recovery of Copper from Waste Printed Circuit Boards by High-temperature Milling Process 고온 밀링 공정을 통한 폐인쇄회로기판으로부터 구리 회수

31 August 2024. pp. 22-28

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Abstract

Waste PCBs contain a large amount of valuable resources, including copper, and technology to recover them is constantly being developed. Generally, to recycle waste PCBs, a physical pretreatment process such as shredding and crushing is required. However, during this stage, the loss rate of metals is high and the sorting efficiency is low, indicating a need for a more efficient recycling pretreatment process. In this study, a high-temperature milling process, which simultaneously employs heat treatment and ball milling, was utilized to efficiently recover copper from waste PCBs. An experiment was conducted at 350 °C with milling time, milling speed, and the weight of the balls as variables. The results showed a copper recovery rate of over 90% under the conditions of a ball weight of 500 g, a milling speed of 70 RPM, and a milling time of 5 hours. The purity of the recovered copper was approximately 93%, and through post-processing after the high-temperature milling process, the feasibility of reusing the recovered copper as a high-purity material was confirmed.

Keywords

Waste printed circuit board

Pretreatment

Recycling

High-temperature milling

Copper

폐 PCB에는 구리를 포함한 다량의 유가 자원이 포함되어 있으며 이를 회수하기 위한 기술 개발이 꾸준히 이루어지고 있다. 일반적으로 폐 PCB를 재활용하기 위해서는 파쇄 및 분쇄와 같은 물리적 전처리가 필요하다. 그러나 물리적 전처리 과정에서 금속의 손실률이 높고 선별도가 낮아 효율적인 재활용 전처리 공정이 필요하다. 본 연구에서는 폐 PCB에서 효율적인 구리 회수를 위해 열처리와 볼 밀링을 동시에 진행하는 고온밀링공정을 적용하였다. 350 °C에서 밀링 시간과 밀링 속도, 볼의 무게를 변수로 두어 실험을 수행하였으며 볼의 무게 500 g, 밀링 속도 70 RPM, 볼 밀링 시간 5시간 조건에서 90% 이상의 구리 회수율을 보였다. 회수된 구리의 순도는 약 93%이며, 고온밀링공정 후 회수된 구리를 후공정을 통해 고순도의 구리로 재소재화 가능성을 확인하였다.

키워드

폐 인쇄회로기판

전처리

재활용

고온 밀링

구리

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Information

Publisher :The Korean Institute of Resources Recycling
Publisher(Ko) :한국자원리싸이클링학회
Journal Title :Resources Recycling
Journal Title(Ko) :자원리싸이클링
Volume : 33
No :4
Pages :22-28
Received Date : 2024-07-18
Revised Date : 2024-08-19
Accepted Date : 2024-08-20
DOI :https://doi.org/10.7844/kirr.2024.33.4.22

Resources Recycling ISSN:2765-3439(Print) 2765-3447(Online) 자원리싸이클링

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