Data availability and the need for research to localize, quantify and recycle critical metals in information technology, telecommunication and consumer equipment

Chancerel, Perrine; Rotter, Vera Susanne; Ueberschaar, Maximilian; Marwede, Max; Nissen, Nils F.; Lang, Klaus‐Dieter

doi:10.1177/0734242x13499814

Cited by 50 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…According to Chancerel et al, the functional application of rare earth elements in hard disk drives is relevant regarding the high contents compared to other EEE types [11]. Hard disk drives consist of a very dense and complex compound structure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enabling the recycling of rare earth elements through product design and trend analyses of hard disk drives

Ueberschaar

Rotter

2015

J Mater Cycles Waste Manag

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Hard disk drives consist of a complex mix of various materials. While Aluminum, Copper and Steel are easy to separate, actual recycling processes dilute containing rare earth elements to non-recoverable grades in other material streams. To enable future recycling of these materials an in-depth analysis of hard disk drives from Desktop PCs and Notebooks was carried out. Furthermore, possible recycling strategies for rare earth elements were derived and the recycling potential was assessed. The results show high concentrations of Neodymium (22.9 ± 2.8 %), Praseodymium (2.7 ± 2.2 %) and Dysprosium (1.4 ± 1.5 %) in the magnets. Various types of alloys are applied for different technical or economic reasons. Also a dependency from manufacturing dates was evidenced. Furthermore, Cerium (0.5 %) and Neodymium (0.2 %) were determined in printed circuit boards. Test disassemblies of hard disk drives showed a complicated structure and thereby a difficult access to the NdFeB magnets. This applies explicitly for the spindle motor magnets, which hold the main share of applied Dysprosium. A WEEE collection analysis shows an amount of about 12.7t magnets from hard disk drives from PCs in Germany in 1 year. Put-on-market data predict decreasing shares of hard disk drives from Desktop PCs and significantly increasing amounts of Notebook components in WEEE

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enabling the recycling of rare earth elements through product design and trend analyses of hard disk drives

Ueberschaar

Rotter

2015

J Mater Cycles Waste Manag

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“…Global refining production of indium has been increased in the recent years, from around 780 tons in 2012 to 845 tons in 2014 [7,22]. However, the amount of annual world refinery production has dropped to the level of 755 tons in 2015 due to decreased prices [22], which effectively illustrates strong economic drivers behind increasing production of by-product metals.…”

Section: Limitations In Primary Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the case of indium, there are only a few main applications consuming the major share of world production. Up to 75% of globally refined indium was used to produce indium tin oxide (ITO) in 2012 [7], used as a transparent conductive layer mainly in LCD and other flat panels, touch panels, and electroluminescent lamps [8].…”

Section: The Main Uses Of Indiummentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers and Constraints of Critical Materials Recycling: The Case of Indium

Ylä-Mella

Pongrácz

2016

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Abstract:Raw material criticality studies are receiving increasing attention because an increasing number of elements of great economic importance, performing essential functions face high supply risks. Scarcity of key materials is a potential barrier to large-scale deployment of sustainable energy and clean-tech technologies as resorting to several critical materials. As physical scarcity and geopolitical issues may present a barrier to the supply of critical metals, recycling is regarded as a possible solution to substitute primary resources for securing the long-term supply of critical metals. In this paper, the main drivers and constraints for critical materials recycling are analyzed from literature, considering indium as a case study of critical materials. This literature review shows that waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) could be a future source of critical metals; however, the reduction of dissipation of critical materials should have much higher priority. It is put forward that more attention should be paid to sustainable management of critical materials, especially improved practices at the waste management stage. This calls for not only more efficient WEEE recycling technologies, but also revising priorities in recycling strategies.

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“…Recycling of indium from EOL LCD panels is not yet carried out on an industrial scale [2,30,37,38]. At least, much research has been recently carried out on the topic of indium recovery from LCD panels.…”

Section: Indium Recycling From Lcd Panelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although a number of studies have been published, a full recycling of LCD panels has not been developed [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. Hence, recovery of indium from WEEE is not yet being carried out [1,2,30].…”

Section: End-of-life (Eol) Lcds Account For Up To 90% Of the Indium-bmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential and Recycling Strategies for LCD Panels from WEEE

et al. 2017

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Indium is one of the strategically important materials, which have been characterized as critical by various industrialized countries. Despite its high relevance, only low recycling rates are realized. Its main application is in indium tin oxide (ITO), which is used in the production of liquid crystal displays (LCD). However, recovery strategies for indium from LCDs are not yet being implemented in recycling practices. Although LCDs consist of a sandwich compound with additional materials such as glass (80% ± 5%) and polarizer foils (20% ± 5%), recently published recycling approaches focus mainly on the recovery of indium exclusively. This study, first of all, provides information about the quantity and quality of the materials applied in the LCD panels of the various equipment types investigated, such as notebooks, tablets, mobile phones, smartphones, PC monitors, and LCD TVs. The highest indium mass fraction per mass of LCD was determined in mobile phones and the least indium was found in smartphones. Additionally, we found the significant use of contaminating metals like antimony, arsenic, lead, and strontium in the glass fraction. Thus, specific recovery strategies should focus on selected equipment types with the highest indium potential, which is directly related to the sales of new devices and the number of collected end-of-life devices. Secondly, we have developed and successfully tested a novel recycling approach for separating the sandwich compound to provide single output fractions of panel glass, polarizer foils, and an indium concentrate for subsequent recycling. Unfortunately, the strongly varying content of contaminating metals jeopardizes the recycling of this output fraction. Nonetheless, economic recycling approaches need to address all materials contained, in particular those with the highest share in LCD panels such as polarizer foils and panel glass.

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Data availability and the need for research to localize, quantify and recycle critical metals in information technology, telecommunication and consumer equipment

Cited by 50 publications

References 28 publications

Enabling the recycling of rare earth elements through product design and trend analyses of hard disk drives

Enabling the recycling of rare earth elements through product design and trend analyses of hard disk drives

Drivers and Constraints of Critical Materials Recycling: The Case of Indium

Potential and Recycling Strategies for LCD Panels from WEEE

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