Materials Recycling Prof. Dr. Ir. Ab Stevels, M.A.h.c. Chair of Applied EcoDesign Design for Sustainability Lab Industrial Design Engineering Delft University of Technology Stevels@xs4all.nl August 25, 2019

Outline Introduction Disassembly Shredding and separation Material costs and revenues Secondary material outlets and compatibility Incineration and landfill Conclusions August 25, 2019

Recycling Chain Collection Quantity Material and component liberation Environmental and economic treatment August 25, 2019 3

Processing of Discarded Products Selection for product Reuse Disassembly for: Mechanical Component Reuse treatment Iron Components Aluminium Material Reuse Materials Shredding Copper/ precious metals Control of Hazardous Waste Separation Hazardous Mixed plastics August 25, 2019

Disassembly vs. Mechanical Treatment + Disassembly because of value (recycling) Mechanical treatment Disassembly because of cost (control hazardous materials) “What you do is value/cost dependant” € _ August 25, 2019

Disassembly August 25, 2019

Disassembly: Minimal Amounts to Achieve Cost Neutral Minimal amount of material to be disassembled per minute (data based on West European price level) Precious metals Plastics Gold 0.05 g PPE 250 g Palladium 0.15 g PC, POM 350 g Silver 5 g ABS 800 g Metals Glass Copper 300 g 6000 g Aluminium 700 g Iron 50000 g August 25, 2019

Standard Disassembly Times (seconds) Screws 6.5 Nuts / bolts 11.5 Glue joints 12.0 Display from PWB 25.0 Screws not directly 10.5 Click, simple 3.5 Clamps 15.5 Cooling plates 26.0 Screws to be broken 18.5 Click, complicated 7.5 Wire connections 2.0 Axis etc. 9.0 Change screw driver 4.0 Nails 13.0 Elco from PWB 4.5 Bending joints 6.0 August 25, 2019

Disassembly Benchmark (TV’s) Gross time (s) TV1 TV2 TV3 TV4 TV5 Getting ready 18 24 38 32 34 Mains cord/ plug 20 12 16 Unscrew back cover 56 66 28 Clean and sort back cover 42 22 44 14 Take out and sort PWB Take out and sort speaker 54 Deflection unit 26 30 Get CRT out 72 50 74 70 90 Clean and sort CRT 62 68 46 Clean and sort front cover 58 82 Total 424 380 414 386 372 August 25, 2019

Disassembly Analysis Determine Σ Nj * tstandard Identify improvement With: N = Number of joints j tstandard = Standard disassembly time per joint Identify improvement Change of architecture Comparison with competitors products Lower disassembly time = lower assembly time August 25, 2019

Example Disassembly Analysis Portable audio (‘boombox’) Brand 1 Brand 2 Brand 3 Brand 4 Screws 122 73 82 Connectors 7 14 5 Solder points 16 3 Click 29 Total calc. disassembly time 1074 630 628 796 August 25, 2019

Deep level manual dismantling Key reference: Best of 2 Worlds project (UNU) F. Wang, and H. Huisman, “Economic conditions for formal and informal recycling of e-waste in China,” 2008, Proceedings of the 2008 Electronic Goes Green Conference, 2008, 845-850 United Nations University. “Sustainable innovation & technology transfer, Industrial sector studies, Recycling – From e-waste to resources, final report,” 2009, pp.27-35 August 25, 2019 12

Deep level manual dismantling Liberate heterogeneous materials and components more effectively (toxic and valuable fractions) More environmental gain compared to shredding Low cost in developing countries like China, improve employment Solutions for disassemble fractions towards professional end-processing shall be prepared August 25, 2019 13

Eco-efficiency Directions (1kg of desktop computer) (Pts) Environmental gain Costs Environmental burden Revenues (€) € 0,40/ kg (revenue) + 305 Pts (gain) Shredding X € 0,85/kg +390 Pts (gain) Deep level dismantling 10 Pts (impact) + € 0,10/kg (cost) Landfill August 25, 2019

Monitoring and accounting system Dynamic management system Technical roadmap Preprocessing manual dismantling to separate the components/fractions until the optimal dismantling depth is reached Further processing Reuse Base metal – refinery Normal Plastics - plastics recycling/incineration PWB – Precious metal recovery (Umicore) Battery – Professional treatment factory Electrolyte capacitor (PCB) – Incineration CRT glass – lead-glass recycling/storage FR plastics– incineration/plastic recycling Mercury Lamp – Lamp treatment Toner cartridge – Professional recycling LCD - ??? EHS system Monitoring and accounting system Dynamic management system August 25, 2019 August 25, 2019 15

Mechanical Treatment August 25, 2019

Mechanical Treatment CRT Containing Appliances August 25, 2019

Mechanical Treatment Non-CRT Containing Appliances Aluminium Ferro Copper Residue Other browngood Eddy Current Magnet Shredder Sifter Optional: Plastics 1 (clean from handpicking) Optional: Plastics 2 (contaminated) August 25, 2019

Maximizing Yield of Mechanical Treatment, I Recyclers Revenues for metals (copper, precious metals) Costs for final waste disposal (mixed plastics/ FR) Balancing revenues and costs Example mixed plastics: The Netherlands: Fraction to copper smelter has high mixed plastics/ FR content due to avoiding high costs at landfill/ incineration Spain: Fraction to copper smelter has high copper content due to low disposal costs mixed plastics/ FR August 25, 2019

Maximizing Yield of Mechanical Treatment, II Metal smelters Rewards for economies of scale Penalties for unwanted elements (limits) Rewards for precious metals (threshold) Example lead when: Separately disassembled as metal: little value In copper fraction: dependent on type of smelter: high threshold/ penalties In mixed plastics stream to incineration: low threshold/ penalties August 25, 2019

Material Costs and Revenues August 25, 2019

Material Costs and Revenues (2007) Material €/kg Remarks ABS* 0,82 * Mono stream, without flame retardants, PVC* 0,43 no metal coatings and stickers PPE-S/B* 0,91 PC* 1,25 PC-ABS* 0,88 Mixed plastics -0,10 Incineration (AVR) FR plastics -1,13 Incineration (AVR chemie) Ferro metals 0,10 Fe-scrap Picture tubes -0,20 Ceramics Deflection unit 0,50 Cu-smelter Wiring 0,40 Cu-smelter PWB (incl. comp.) 0,10 Cu-smelter Speakers 0,03 Fe-Cu-scrap August 25, 2019

Upgrading of fractions : “ Go for Gold, (economic & environmental) Recouping 1 milligram of gold is the monetary equivalent of recouping (year 2008) : 43 grams of iron 1.3 grams of nickel 13 grams of ABS plastic 0.06 grams of silver 10 grams of aluminum 0.03 grams of indium 04 grams of copper 2.5 milligrams of palladium 0.6 milligrams of platinum August 25, 2019 23

Secondary material outlets and compatibility August 25, 2019

Compatibility Table for Metals Fraction Typical knock-out (reduces value to zero or negative) Typical penalty elements (reduces value strongly) Copper (Cu) Hg, Be, PCB As, Sb, Ni, Al, Bi, Mg Aluminium (Al) Cu, Fe, polymers Si Iron (Fe) Cu Sn, Zn Example: Bismuth in a typical copper smelter < 0,01% (threshold, free of charge) > 0,01% and <0,03% (penalty: 23 € per 0,01% per ton fraction weight) > 0,03% (unacceptable, knock-out) August 25, 2019

Copper Recycling: Value and Avoided Costs copper content precious metal content Avoided costs: lead (usually byproduct) mixed plastics with flame retardants Shredding and separation settings determine strongly the value and processing of the copper fraction! August 25, 2019

Aluminium Recycling: Value Value depends strongly on: Form Type of alloy Knock-out and penalty elements Shredding and separation settings determine strongly the value and processing of the aluminium fraction! August 25, 2019

Ferro Recycling: Economy of Scale Contributes to recycle% (weight) Link to other and larger streams (integrated recycler) Knock-out and penalty elements Zinc coatings are getting critical in some countries August 25, 2019

Compatibility Table for Plastics (general) PS ABS PA PC PVC PP PE + - August 25, 2019

Compatibility Table for PS-High Impact (specific) Plastic type Compatibility PPE + S/B + ABS PC PC + ABS PP, PE, EPDM - POM PBT PVC Cross linked rubber, PU August 25, 2019

Plastic Recycling: Conditions for Success Mono materials No fillers or additives Economy of scale No paper, stickers and metal coatings August 25, 2019

Glass Recycling: Level of re-application TV screen/ cone glass no cross contamination completely metal free Ceramics Foam glass Secondary copper/ lead smelter Filler material (road paving) August 25, 2019

Incineration: Environmental Effects Energy recuperation Temperature of operation (dioxin and furan formation) Modernity of fuel gas cleaning Slag composition and further useful application (depends on composition input) August 25, 2019

Landfill: Environmental effects Type of landfill Controlled versus uncontrolled landfill Time of operation Leaching behavior very complex Long term effects Land-use August 25, 2019

Conclusions Treatment to be done strictly on fraction composition and weight Costs and revenues of fractions strongly depends on composition and weight Material compatibility/ value and penalty elements within fractions extremely important August 25, 2019