SUbstance flow analysis of the recycling of small waste electrical ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

108 Substance flow analysis of the recycling of small WEEE different equipment groups were assumed to be constant between 2007 and 2012. The flow of gold associated with the sWEEE is expected to increase in Germany by 55%, and in the USA by 65%. The greater increase of the generation of precious-metals rich sWEEE compared to the moderate increase of lower-grade waste equipment explains why the gold flow increases at a significantly higher rate than the sWEEE generation. Compared to 2007, an increase by 62% in Germany and by 70% in the USA of the flow of palladium associated with sWEEE is expected, so that the sWEEE generated in 2012 will contain around 1060 kg of palladium in Germany and around 18 tonnes in the USA. Table 37 shows how the losses of gold are affected by the increase of the sWEEE generation presented in Table 36 if the discarding rates remain constant (that means that the discarding rates in 2012 are assumed to be equal to the discarding rates determined for 2007). Table 37 Flow of gold discarded in 2012, assuming the generation presented in Table 36 and assuming that the discarding rates of 2012 are equal to the discarding rates of 2007 Country Equipment group Discarded flow of gold in 2007 (kg) Gold discarding rate Discarded flow of gold in 2012 (kg) Germany Mobile telephone 397 88% 794 Desktop PC 226 56% 395 CRT monitor 43 51% 43 Large high-grade eq. 370 64% 554 Small high-grade eq. 69 79% 139 Low-grade eq. 448 82% 493 All groups 1 552 2 417 USA Mobile telephone 5 171 92% 10 342 Desktop PC 7 488 61% 13 104 CRT monitor 803 83% 803 Large high-grade eq. 4 141 66% 6 211 Small high-grade eq. 1 529 91% 3 059 Low-grade eq. 3 773 100% 4 150 All groups 22 904 37 668 Although the overall discarding rates remain almost constant, with this scenario the absolute quantity of gold discarded reaches around 2.4 tonnes in Germany and around 38 tonnes in the USA, which means an increase by 56% in Germany and by 64% in the USA compared to 2007. This quantity of gold had an economic value of around 52 million US-dollars in Germany and 817 million US-dollars in the USA in 2007. This shows that the relevance of sWEEE as a source of precious metals is expected to increase. Therefore, it is an acute necessity to improve the system, so that the losses of gold do not reach this level in 2012.
7. Recommendations 109 7. Recommendations The substance flow analysis allows identifying and quantifying the system weaknesses and, therefore, provides a basis to formulate recommendations to improve it. In addition to the recommendations directly relating to the recovery of precious metals, some more general suggestions can be made for the use of substance flow analyses to assess waste management systems and about how to improve the data quality. 7.1. Recommendations to improve the recovery of precious metals from WEEE Based on the SFA, some recommendations are formulated about the subsystems constituting the management system for sWEEE. Table 38 summarizes the recommendations that are developed in the chapters 7.1.1 to 7.1.4. Table 38 Recommendations for limiting the losses of precious metals during management of sWEEE Category Collect more Reuse more Treat better Strategy Define priorities and set collection objectives considering the presence of precious metals in some types of waste equipment Communicate with the users of WEEE and set incentives for collection Make different collection options available to the users Monitor and control the flows of collected WEEE Communicate with the pre-processing facilities to provide the WEEE in a way that facilitates the treatment Develop an adequate infrastructure to sort the WEEE with a high reuse potential Reduce the decrease of the reuse value during collection and transportation Pre-sort the WEEE according to the ‘needs for treatment’ Avoid the decrease of the quality of the WEEE during collection and transportation Set priorities for material recovery according to the composition of the different WEEE, i.e. reduce the fraction of precious metals sent to processes where precious metals are not recovered Develop and apply standards for treatment technologies, e.g. remove higher grade PCB before shredding Monitor and control the flows in and out of the treatment facilities Promote research to improve the treatment technologies
Page 1:
ITU-Schriftenreihe, 2010 Institut f
Page 4 and 5:
Bibliografische Information Der Deu
Page 7 and 8:
Acknowledgements Here I would like
Page 9 and 10:
Kurzfassung Die Nachfrage nach Edel
Page 11 and 12:
Composition of the doctoral thesis
Page 13 and 14:
4.1.1. Generation .................
Page 15 and 16:
Figure 25 Flows of gold and palladi
Page 17 and 18:
Table 26 Quantity of sWEEE (includi
Page 19 and 20:
List of abbreviations Ag Au BAT CE
Page 21 and 22:
1. Introduction and objectives of t
Page 23 and 24:
2. Background and definitions 23 Du
Page 25 and 26:
2. Background and definitions 25 an
Page 27 and 28:
2. Background and definitions 27 2.
Page 29 and 30:
2. Background and definitions 29 pu
Page 31 and 32:
2. Background and definitions 31 Ta
Page 33 and 34:
2. Background and definitions 33 Fi
Page 35 and 36:
2. Background and definitions 35 2.
Page 37 and 38:
2. Background and definitions 37 Th
Page 39 and 40:
2. Background and definitions 39 tr
Page 41 and 42:
2. Background and definitions 41 ha
Page 43 and 44:
2. Background and definitions 43 co
Page 45 and 46:
2. Background and definitions 45 th
Page 47 and 48:
2. Background and definitions 47 Re
Page 49 and 50:
2. Background and definitions 49 So
Page 51 and 52:
3. Method 51 Table 8 Groups of equi
Page 53 and 54:
3. Method 53 Because many data on c
Page 55 and 56:
3. Method 55 Equipment group Equipm
Page 57 and 58: 3. Method 57 3.3.2. Data on materia
Page 59 and 60: 3. Method 59 1. The visible hazardo
Page 61 and 62: 3. Method 61 uncertainties were ent
Page 63 and 64: 4. Data inventory 63 4. Data invent
Page 65 and 66: 4. Data inventory 65 Table 11 shows
Page 67 and 68: 4. Data inventory 67 The following
Page 69 and 70: 4. Data inventory 69 average weight
Page 71 and 72: 4. Data inventory 71 Collection cha
Page 73 and 74: 4. Data inventory 73 Table 20 Repar
Page 75 and 76: 4. Data inventory 75 was applied to
Page 77 and 78: 4. Data inventory 77 Table 26 Quant
Page 79 and 80: 4. Data inventory 79 The variation
Page 81 and 82: 4. Data inventory 81 Due to the lim
Page 83 and 84: 4. Data inventory 83 apparent gold.
Page 85 and 86: 4. Data inventory 85 Table 33 Avera
Page 87 and 88: 5. Quantification of the flows of g
Page 99 and 100: 6. Discussion of the results of the
Page 107: 6. Discussion of the results of the
Page 111 and 112: 7. Recommendations 111 WEEE contai
Page 113 and 114: 7. Recommendations 113 After collec
Page 115 and 116: 7. Recommendations 115 in the case
Page 117 and 118: 7. Recommendations 117 In many case
Page 119 and 120: 7. Recommendations 119 manufacturer
Page 121 and 122: 7. Recommendations 121 the manufact
Page 123 and 124: 7. Recommendations 123 Reuter et al
Page 125 and 126: 8. Conclusion 125 All the equipment
Page 127 and 128: References 127 Binder 2007 BITKOM 2
Page 129 and 130: References 129 CIWMB 2004b Clift &
Page 131 and 132: References 131 Greenpeace 2005 Gree
Page 133 and 134: References 133 Janz & Bilitewski 20
Page 135 and 136: References 135 Melissen 2006 Mesker
Page 137 and 138: References 137 Rhein et al. 2008 Rh
Page 139 and 140: References 139 StEP 2009 Stevels 20
Page 141 and 142: References 141 Veldhuizen & Sippel
Page 143 and 144: References 143 Legislative texts Ba
Page 145 and 146: Appendices 145 Appendix 1 Equipment
Page 147 and 148: Appendices 147 Appendix 2 Average c
Page 149 and 150: Appendices 149 Appendix 4 Past and
Page 151 and 152: Appendices 151 Eq. group Equipment
Page 153 and 154: Appendices 153 2 Assumptions based
Page 159 and 160:
Appendices 159 Appendix 8 Flows of
Page 161 and 162:
Appendices 161 Appendix 10 Flows of
show all

SUbstance flow analysis of the recycling of small waste electrical ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?