Combination of Pyrolysis and Physical Separation to Recover Copper and Tin from Waste Printed Circuit Boards

Waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) are an essential component in electronic waste (e-waste), and contain a number of valuable metals (e.g., Cu, Sn) as well as non-metal resources (e.g., brominated epoxy resin). Currently, most of the non-metals are disposed of in landfills, causing environmental problems. In this study, a combination of pyrolysis and physical separation is proposed to recover valuable resources, including both metals and non-metals, from WPCBs. The WPCBs were pyrolyzed at 700°C under a nitrogen atmosphere. Pyrolysis oil and gas can be reused as fuel for the pyrolysis of WPCBs. Metals like copper, tin, and iron in the pyrolysis residues were separated by selective crushing, sieving, gravity separation, and magnetic separation. Finally, rich copper (Cu 82.21%, Sn 1.47%), rich tin (Cu 53.20%, Sn 13.43%), rich iron (Fe > 63%), and non-metal products were obtained, and the total recoveries of copper, tin, and iron were 95%, 86%, and 76%, respectively.