Recycling critical raw materials from waste electronic ...

Recycling critical raw materials from waste electronic equipment

Commissioned by the North RhineWestphalia State Agency for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection

Darmstadt, 24.02.2012

Authors: Matthias Buchert (m.buchert@oeko.de) Andreas Manhart Daniel Bleher Detlef Pingel

Oeko-Institut e.V.

Freiburg head office PO box 17 71 79017 Freiburg, Germany Address for visitors Merzhauser Strasse 173 79100 Freiburg Tel. +49 (0) 761 ? 4 52 95-0 Fax +49 (0) 761 ? 4 52 95-88

Darmstadt office Rheinstrasse 95 64295 Darmstadt, Germany Tel. +49 (0) 6151 ? 81 91-0 Fax +49 (0) 6151 ? 81 91-33

Berlin office Schicklerstr. 5-7 10179 Berlin, Germany Tel. +49 (0) 30 ? 40 50 85-0 Fax +49 (0) 30 ? 40 50 85-388

Recycling critical raw materials from waste electronic equipment

Table of contents

1

Background and objectives

1

2

Flat screens

3

2.1

Indium

3

2.2

Rare earths

5

2.3

Precious metals

8

2.4

Summary of critical metals in flat screens

9

2.5

Market data for flat screens

11

2.6

Service life and collection rates for flat screens

16

2.7

Status of pre-treatment technology for flat screens

17

2.8

Potential for optimization in the recycling chain

18

3

Notebooks

19

3.1

Precious metals

20

3.2

Tantalum

23

3.3

Indium

24

3.4

Rare earths

24

3.5

Cobalt

27

3.6

Summary of critical metals in notebooks

28

3.7

Market data for notebooks

30

3.8

Service life and collection rates for notebooks

33

3.9

Status of pre-treatment technology for notebooks

34

3.10

Potential for optimization in the recycling chain

36

4

Smartphones

37

4.1

Precious metals

38

4.2

Indium, gallium, tantalum

38

4.3

Cobalt

38

4.4

Rare earths

39

4.5

Summary of critical metals in smartphones

39

4.6

Market data for smartphones

39

4.7

Collection rates for smartphones

40

4.8

Status of recycling technology for smartphones

41

4.9

Potential for optimization in the recycling chain

41

5

LED lights

41

5.1

Rare earths, gallium and indium

46

III

Recycling critical raw materials from waste electronic equipment

5.2

Summary of critical metals in LED lights

52

5.3

Market data for LED lights

53

5.4

Collection rates for LED lights

57

5.5

Status of recycling technology for LED lights

58

5.6

Potential for optimization in the recycling chain

58

6

Refining processes for electronic waste fractions containing

important resources

58

6.1

Precious metals

59

6.2

Cobalt

61

6.3

Rare earths

62

6.4

Gallium, indium

63

6.5

Tantalum

64

7

Summary and recommendations for action

65

8

References

74

IV

Recycling critical raw materials from waste electronic equipment

List of tables

Table 1: Table 2:

Table 3: Table 4: Table 5:

Table 6:

Table 7:

Table 8:

Table 9:

Table 10: Table 11:

Table 12:

Table 13: Table 14:

Table 15: Table 16: Table 17: Table 18:

Table 19: Table 20: Table 21: Table 22:

Display technologies and their principal areas of application

3

Published values on film thickness and indium content of LCD

displays.

4

Approximation calculation of indium content in LCD displays

4

Mean indium content of different display devices

4

Assumptions and data for estimating the percentage of rare earths

in the CCFL background illumination of LCD screens

6

Estimated mean weights of rare earth metals in LCD displays with

CCFL background illumination

7

Assumptions and data for estimating the content of rare earths

(incl. indium and gallium) in the LED background illumination of

LCD screens.

8

Estimated mean weights of rare earth metals (incl. indium and

gallium) in LCD displays with CCFL background illumination

8

Weight and concentration of precious metals in PCBs in flat

screens.

8

Quantities of precious metals in the PCBs of flat screens

9

Sales figures for equipment with LCD displays (Germany 2010), the market share of devices with background illumination using white LEDs (WLEDs) and the estimated number of WLEDs used in the background illumination per device (see also Section 5.3 5.3) 10

Mean weight of critical raw materials in LCD PC monitors (private

market sector)

10

Mean weight of critical raw materials in LCD televisions

11

Sales, percentage change against previous year and average

price for TV sets (private market) in 2010 (CEMIX 2011)

12

Weight and concentration of precious metals in PCBs in notebooks 20

Quantities of precious metals in the PCBs of a notebook

21

Precious metal concentrations in hard disk drive platters

22

Quantity of precious metals in the hard disk drive platters of a

notebook

23

Applications and weights of rare earth magnets in notebooks

25

Concentrations of rare earths in magnets in notebooks

26

Amounts of rare earths in magnets in notebooks

27

Sales figures for notebooks used in the private sector (Germany 2010), the market share of devices with background illumination using white LEDs (WLEDs) and the estimated number of WLEDs

V

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download