Abstract
We carried out a shredding and separation experiment of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) using a waste processing plant to analyze the distribution behaviors and substance flows of 55 kinds of metals in the shredding and separation process of WEEE. The material composition and metal content were measured for the separated products and collected dusts and then the distribution ratio to each fraction was calculated. Also, metal content in clean off-gas and working environment during the experiment was measured. As a result, 75% of Al and 50% of Cu was distributed to the fraction of large-size grain (>30mm) after magnetic separation, which is the fraction to be incinerated in the current waste treatment. Also 30% of Cu was distributed to the fraction of magnetically-separated material. For improvement in recovery rate of Al and Cu contained in WEEE, pre-sorting of parts containing Al and Cu such as aluminum plate and motor is effective. Over 80% of most of other kinds of metals were distributed to the fraction of small-size grain (<30mm) after magnetic separation, which is the fraction to be directly landfilled.
