Recovery of copper through concentration processes from ashes produced by WEEE pyrolysis

Abstract

The process of recovering metals from electronic waste has become an important topic in recent years. In this work, the recovery of electrolytic copper from the ashes produced during the pyrolysis process of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) was sought. Three gravimetric separation equipment were used: Wilfley table, JIG screen, and mechanical screen. This last method was used with and without previous grinding processes. The ashes were initially characterized by XRD to determine the phases present. The initial concentration of the ashes was carried out by physicochemical classification. The results obtained show that the JIG sieve separation processes obtained the best performance, reaching a percentage of about 87% of recovery of the metal present within the WEEE ashes during 16 minutes. The application of a vertical gravimetric separation system on material samples with a fairly wide density difference allowed an optimal separation system for the metallic material and the produced ash. On the other hand, the application of screens in the recovery of the metal obtains values much lower than those obtained by JIG sieve.