Testing Metal Recovery from E-Waste in the Innovation Center

This article was co-authored by:

Carrie Carlson
Technical Writer

Alex Ebben
Process and Sales Engineer

The need for increased adoption of metal recovery from e-waste continues to gain greater urgency as the gap between supply and demand grows ever-wider in the pursuit of a clean-energy future.

Fortunately, The FEECO Innovation Center has the expertise and equipment needed to test the feasibility of metal recovery from various e-waste sources through the use of batch- and pilot-scale test rotary kilns.

Metal Recovery with a Rotary Kiln

Not surprisingly, rotary kilns have long been investigated for metal recovery applications; they allow producers to create a controlled processing environment, while operating on a continuous basis and providing reliable, high-capacity processing. They can accept a wide range of feedstock types and are incredibly customizable, so producers can tailor the device to their exact processing needs.

In the case of e-waste treatment, a rotary kiln works by employing high temperatures, paired with a controlled processing environment, to cause volatilization, leaving behind ash and metal, which can then be recovered for further refinement.

The rotary kiln may be either direct-fired or indirect-fired, depending on the needs of the material and the process objectives.

Testing Metal Recovery in the Innovation Center

Many producers are utilizing our state-of-the-art testing facility to not only confirm feasibility, but also to conduct additional process development and establish the data necessary for building commercial-scale rotary kilns.

The Innovation Center has batch- and pilot-scale options for both direct and indirect thermal processing. Testing establishes critical process data, including:

  • Temperature profiles
  • Retention time
  • Processing atmosphere requirements
  • Off-gas treatment requirements
  • Volumetric flow
  • Feed rate

The data gathered is then used to inform FEECO engineers in designing the commercial-scale equipment needed to carry out the process.

Nickel and Copper Recovery

The facility recently worked with a large natural resources company to reclaim nickel from old cell phone batteries, laptop batteries and other nickel-bearing wastes. The testing was successful and led to FEECO engineering and manufacturing a custom nickel recovery kiln.

Another company has been working with the facility to conduct feasibility test work around reclaiming copper from printed circuit boards (pcb) and other copper-bearing wastes.

Conclusion

Solving the mounting e-waste problem has become a primary focus of sustainability efforts and  FEECO rotary kilns have proven to be an effective method of recovering the valuable metal components from e-waste. For more information on our custom rotary kilns or thermal testing capabilities, contact us today!

 

 

About the Authors . . .


Carrie Carlson is a technical writer and visual designer.

More About Carrie

Alex Ebben is a Process Sales Engineer and thermal processing expert.

More About Alex