Technical and Economic Feasibility of the Recycling of Non-Metallic Portion of Waste Printed Circuit Board

Author : Amores, Vincent Guiller G.
Major Adviser : Guerrero, Gino Apollo M.
Committee Members : Gatdula, Kristel M.; Bataller, Butch G.
Year : 2021
Month : June
Type : Thesis
Degree: BS
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Abstract

Improper disposal of waste printed circuit boards, particularly the potentially toxic non-metallic portion, will cause harm not only in humans but for the environment as electrical and electronic equipment usage continues to exponentially rise. Thus, a technologically-sound and economic way of treating this waste stream is necessary. This study aims to determine the technical and economic feasibility of recycling the non- metallic portion of waste printed circuit boards. The factors that were considered for the technical feasibility were process description, product specification, raw materials, utilities, plant size and production schedule, equipment and machinery, and waste disposal. The profitability measure that was considered for the economic feasibility is the ROI. Mass and energy balance calculations was done to obtain the values for the factors. It was found that considering a plant feed capacity of 3541.67 kg of waste printed circuit per day, it is technically feasible to produce 5477.11 kg/day of A-NMP heavy metal adsorbent alongside 1057.19 kg/day of metallic powder for smelting and precious metal recovery. The ROI of the facility without the revenues from the sale of precious metals is equal to 45.53 %/yr. This ROI is higher than the mar value for high-risk investments which makes the recycling of NMP of WPCB economically feasible. It is recommended to expand the study to include the recovery of precious metals to attain exact recovery rates and purity of precious metals.


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