In recent years,scientists have become increasingly concerned in recycling electronic trash,particularly waste printed circuit boards(WPCBs).Previous research has indicated that the presence of Cu impacts the pyrolysi...In recent years,scientists have become increasingly concerned in recycling electronic trash,particularly waste printed circuit boards(WPCBs).Previous research has indicated that the presence of Cu impacts the pyrolysis of WPCBs.However,there may be errors in the experimental results,as printed circuit boards(PCBs)with copper and those without copper are produced differently.For this experiment,we blended copper powder with PCB nonmetallic resin powder in various ratios to create the samples.The apparent kinetics and pyrolysis properties of four resin powders with varying copper concentrations were compared using nonisothermal thermogravimetric analysis(TG)and thermal pyrolysis-gas chromatography mass spectrometry(Py-GC/MS).From the perspective of kinetics,the apparent activation energy of the resin powder in the pyrolysis reaction shows a rise(0.1<a<0.2)-stable(0.2<a<0.4)-accelerated increase(0.4<a<0.8)-decrease(0.8<a<0.9)process.After adding copper powder,the apparent activation energy changes more obviously when(0.2<a<0.4).In the early stage of the pyrolysis reaction(0.1<a<0.6),the apparent activation energy is reduced,but when a?0.8,it is much higher than that of the resin sample without copper.Additionally,it is discovered using thermogravimetric analysis and Py-GC/MS that copper shortens the temperature range of the primary pyrolysis reaction and prevents the creation of compounds containing bromine.This inhibition will raise the temperature at which compounds containing bromine first form,and it will keep rising as the copper level rises.The majority of the circuit board molecules have lower bond energies when copper is present,according to calculations performed using the Gaussian09 software,which promotes the pyrolysis reaction.展开更多
The quality of printed circuit board(PCB)micro-hole processing directly determines the stability of the inner and outer circuit connections.Micro-hole drilling technology is a typical method for PCB micro-hole process...The quality of printed circuit board(PCB)micro-hole processing directly determines the stability of the inner and outer circuit connections.Micro-hole drilling technology is a typical method for PCB micro-hole processing.The problem of optimal control of its drilling force is one of the main factors affecting the quality of micro-hole machining.To address this problem,the thrust forces and torques in PCB drilling were first modeled and analyzed,and the corresponding prediction models were established.The drilling force analysis was carried out through the micro-hole drilling experiment,the specific cutting energy under different feed rates was calculated,the influence of the size effect was clarified,and the accuracy of the prediction model was verified.The result shows that during the drilling of glass fiber cloth,changes in the material removal mechanism are induced as the feed per revolution is varied.When the feed per revolution is less than the tool edge radius,the glass fiber is not cut by the main cutting edge,but is crushed and broken.When the feed per revolution is greater than the radius of the tool edge,the glass fiber is cut by the main cutting edge.At the same time,the established analytical model can accurately reflect the influence of the size effect on the drilling torque in PCB micro-hole drilling,and the error is within 10%.This method has certain practical application value in controlling PCB micro hole processing quality.展开更多
For Printed Circuit Board(PCB)surface defect detection,traditional detection methods mostly focus on template matching-based reference method and manual detections,which have the disadvantages of low defect detection ...For Printed Circuit Board(PCB)surface defect detection,traditional detection methods mostly focus on template matching-based reference method and manual detections,which have the disadvantages of low defect detection efficiency,large errors in defect identification and localization,and low versatility of detectionmethods.In order to furthermeet the requirements of high detection accuracy,real-time and interactivity required by the PCB industry in actual production life.In the current work,we improve the Youonly-look-once(YOLOv4)defect detection method to train and detect six types of PCB small target defects.Firstly,the original Cross Stage Partial Darknet53(CSPDarknet53)backbone network is preserved for PCB defect feature information extraction,and secondly,the original multi-layer cascade fusion method is changed to a single-layer feature layer structure to greatly avoid the problem of uneven distribution of priori anchor boxes size in PCB defect detection process.Then,the K-means++clustering method is used to accurately cluster the anchor boxes to obtain the required size requirements for the defect detection,which further improves the recognition and localization of small PCB defects.Finally,the improved YOLOv4 defect detection model is compared and analyzed on PCB dataset with multi-class algorithms.The experimental results show that the average detection accuracy value of the improved defect detection model reaches 99.34%,which has better detection capability,lower leakage rate and false detection rate for PCB defects in comparison with similar defect detection algorithms.展开更多
A novel low-temperature alkaline smelting process is proposed to convert and separate amphoteric metals in crushed metal enrichment originated from waste printed circuit boards. The central composite design was used t...A novel low-temperature alkaline smelting process is proposed to convert and separate amphoteric metals in crushed metal enrichment originated from waste printed circuit boards. The central composite design was used to optimize the operating parameters,in which mass ratio of Na OH-to-CME, smelting temperature and smelting time were chosen as the variables, and the conversions of amphoteric metals tin, lead, aluminum and zinc were response parameters. Second-order polynomial models of high significance and3 D response surface plots were constructed to show the relationship between the responses and the variables. Optimum area of80%-85% Pb conversion and over 95% Sn conversion was obtained by the overlaid contours at mass ratio of Na OH-to-CME of4.5-5.0, smelting temperature of 653-723 K, smelting time of 90-120 min. The models were validated experimentally in the optimum area, and the results demonstrate that these models are reliable and accurate in predicting the smelting process.展开更多
The crushing performance of printed circuit board (PCB) was studied on several crushers. The results show that PCB is a material which is difficult to crush. The crushing performance of PCB with disk crusher, especial...The crushing performance of printed circuit board (PCB) was studied on several crushers. The results show that PCB is a material which is difficult to crush. The crushing performance of PCB with disk crusher, especially vibration grinding, which has cut or impact action, excels that of jaw crusher or roller crusher. The PCB scrap is worthwhile to recycle using variety of modern characterization methods. When compared with natural resources, this material stream remains a rich precious metal and nonferrous metals. In PCB scrap, metals account for 47% of the total material composition, in which there exists 19.66% copper, 11.47% iron, 3.93% lead, 300 g/t gold and 510 kg/t silver, etc. In addition, the PCB scrap contains 27% of plastics and 26% of refractory oxides.展开更多
Thermal decomposition of waste epoxy PCBs was performed in different atmospheres （nitrogen, argon, air and vacuum） at a heating rate of 10 ℃/rain by DSC-TGA, and the pyrolysis characteristic was analyzed. The gases...Thermal decomposition of waste epoxy PCBs was performed in different atmospheres （nitrogen, argon, air and vacuum） at a heating rate of 10 ℃/rain by DSC-TGA, and the pyrolysis characteristic was analyzed. The gases volatilized from the experiment were qualitatively analyzed by TG-FTIR. Kinetics study shows that pyrolysis reaction takes place between 300 and 400℃, and the activation energies are 256, 212 and 186.2 kJ/mol in nitrogen, argon and vacuum, respectively. There are two mass-loss processes in the decomposition under air atmosphere. In the first mass-loss process, the decomposition is the main reaction, and in the second process, the oxidation is the main reaction. The activation energy of the second mass-loss process is 99.6 kJ/mol by isothermal heat-treatments. TG-FTIR analysis shows carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen bromide, phenol and substituent phenol are given off during the pyrolysis of waste epoxy PCBs.展开更多
Conventional exploding foil initiator (EFI) in ignition or detonation applications hosts many performance advantages, but was hindered by the bulky, inaccurate, inefficient and expensive shortcomings. We highlight a n...Conventional exploding foil initiator (EFI) in ignition or detonation applications hosts many performance advantages, but was hindered by the bulky, inaccurate, inefficient and expensive shortcomings. We highlight a novel micro-chip exploding foil initiator (McEFI) using printed circuit board (PCB) technology. The structural parameters were determined based on energy coupling relationship at the component interfaces. Next, the prototype McEFI has been batch-fabricated using PCB technology, with a monolithic structure of 7.0 mm (l) × 4.5 mm (w) × 4.0 mm (δ). As expected, this PCB-McEFI illustrated the successful firing validations for explosives pellets. This paper has addressed the cost problem in both military munitions and civil markets wherever reliable, insensitive and timing-dependent ignition or detonation are involved.展开更多
The recycling of waste printed circuit board(WPCBs) is of great significance for saving resources and protecting the environment. In this study, the WPCBs were pyrolyzed by microwave and the contained valuable metals ...The recycling of waste printed circuit board(WPCBs) is of great significance for saving resources and protecting the environment. In this study, the WPCBs were pyrolyzed by microwave and the contained valuable metals Cu, Sn and Pb were recovered from the pyrolyzed WPCBs. The effect of pyrolysis temperature and time on the recovery efficiency of valuable metals was investigated. Additionally, the characterization for morphology and surface elemental distribution of pyrolysis residues was carried out to investigate the pyrolysis mechanism. The plastic fiber boards turned into black carbides, and they can be easily separated from the metals by manual. The results indicate that 91.2%, 96.1% and 94.4% of Cu, Sn and Pb can be recovered after microwave pyrolysis at 700 °C for 60 minutes. After pyrolysis, about 79.8%(mass)solid products, 11.9%(mass) oil and 8.3%(mass) gas were produced. These gas and oil can be used as fuel and raw materials of organic chemicals, respectively. This process provides an efficient and energy-saving technology for recovering valuable metals from WPCBs.展开更多
In order to study the role of printed circuit board(PCB)in high-power LED heat dissipation,a simple model of high-power LED lamp was designed.According to this lamp model,some thermal performances such as thermal resi...In order to study the role of printed circuit board(PCB)in high-power LED heat dissipation,a simple model of high-power LED lamp was designed.According to this lamp model,some thermal performances such as thermal resistances of four types of PCB and the changes of LED junction temperature were tested under three different working currents.The obtained results indicate that LED junction temperature can not be lowered significantly with the decreasing thermal resistance of PCB.However,PCB with low thermal resistance can be matched with smaller volume heat sink,so it is hopeful to reduce the size,weight and cost of LED lamp.展开更多
The effective recycling of waste printed circuit boards(WPCBs)can conserve resources and reduce environmental pollution.This study explores the pyrolysis and combustion characteristics of WPCBs in various atmospheres ...The effective recycling of waste printed circuit boards(WPCBs)can conserve resources and reduce environmental pollution.This study explores the pyrolysis and combustion characteristics of WPCBs in various atmospheres through thermogravimetric and Gaussian fitting analyses.Furthermore,this study analyses the pyrolysis products and combustion processes of WPCBs through thermogravimetric and Fourier transform infrared analyses(TG-FTIR)and thermogravimetry-mass spectrometry(TG-MS).Results show that the pyrolysis and combustion processes of WPCBs do not constitute a single reaction,but rather an overlap of multiple reactions.The pyrolysis and combustion process of WPCBs is divided into multiple reactions by Gaussian peak fitting.The kinetic parameters of each reaction are obtained by the Coats-Redfern method.In an argon atmosphere,pyrolysis consists of the overlap of the preliminary pyrolysis of epoxy resin,pyrolysis of small organic molecules,and pyrolysis of brominated flame retardants.The thermal decomposition process in the O_(2) atmosphere is mainly divided into two reactions:brominated flame retardant combustion and epoxy combustion.This study provided the theoretical basis for pollution control,process optimization,and reactor design of WPCBs pyrolysis.展开更多
Nowadays, over 300 tons of Au are used in electronic equipment each year with other precious and strategic metals such as Ag, Pt, Pd, Cu, Nb, Ta, etc.. After the use-phase, the electronic devices become electronic was...Nowadays, over 300 tons of Au are used in electronic equipment each year with other precious and strategic metals such as Ag, Pt, Pd, Cu, Nb, Ta, etc.. After the use-phase, the electronic devices become electronic waste （e-waste）; consequently it is important to consider e-waste as a secondary supply for the recovery of these metals. This paper presents the recovery ofAu, Ag, Cu and Nb from PCBs （printed circuit boards） of discarded computers using leaching column technique. The PCBs were crushed with a hammer mill until reaching a particle size between 3.33 mm to 0.43 mm, Then, it was leached with a sodium cyanide solution in a glass column using the following conditions： sodium cyanide concentration 4 g/L, flux 20 L/d kg PCBs day, pH between 10.5 to 11 and leaching time 15 days. Every day, after leaching, the pregnant solutions passed through a column with activated carbon to complete the closed loop system. The following recoveries were obtained： Au 46.6%, Ag 51.3%, Nb 47.2% and Cu 62.3%. A preliminary technical-economic study shows the feasibility to create a small-scale PCBs recycling plant. The initial investment is on the order of USS155,639, considering the recovered metals from the loaded carbon. The internal rate of return for a 10 years period IRR （internal rate of return） and NPV （net present value） estimated are 27% and US$105,926 respectively.展开更多
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2018YFC1902504).
文摘In recent years,scientists have become increasingly concerned in recycling electronic trash,particularly waste printed circuit boards(WPCBs).Previous research has indicated that the presence of Cu impacts the pyrolysis of WPCBs.However,there may be errors in the experimental results,as printed circuit boards(PCBs)with copper and those without copper are produced differently.For this experiment,we blended copper powder with PCB nonmetallic resin powder in various ratios to create the samples.The apparent kinetics and pyrolysis properties of four resin powders with varying copper concentrations were compared using nonisothermal thermogravimetric analysis(TG)and thermal pyrolysis-gas chromatography mass spectrometry(Py-GC/MS).From the perspective of kinetics,the apparent activation energy of the resin powder in the pyrolysis reaction shows a rise(0.1<a<0.2)-stable(0.2<a<0.4)-accelerated increase(0.4<a<0.8)-decrease(0.8<a<0.9)process.After adding copper powder,the apparent activation energy changes more obviously when(0.2<a<0.4).In the early stage of the pyrolysis reaction(0.1<a<0.6),the apparent activation energy is reduced,but when a?0.8,it is much higher than that of the resin sample without copper.Additionally,it is discovered using thermogravimetric analysis and Py-GC/MS that copper shortens the temperature range of the primary pyrolysis reaction and prevents the creation of compounds containing bromine.This inhibition will raise the temperature at which compounds containing bromine first form,and it will keep rising as the copper level rises.The majority of the circuit board molecules have lower bond energies when copper is present,according to calculations performed using the Gaussian09 software,which promotes the pyrolysis reaction.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51805079)Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities,China(No.2232021D-15)Shanghai Science and Technology Program(No.20DZ2251400)。
文摘The quality of printed circuit board(PCB)micro-hole processing directly determines the stability of the inner and outer circuit connections.Micro-hole drilling technology is a typical method for PCB micro-hole processing.The problem of optimal control of its drilling force is one of the main factors affecting the quality of micro-hole machining.To address this problem,the thrust forces and torques in PCB drilling were first modeled and analyzed,and the corresponding prediction models were established.The drilling force analysis was carried out through the micro-hole drilling experiment,the specific cutting energy under different feed rates was calculated,the influence of the size effect was clarified,and the accuracy of the prediction model was verified.The result shows that during the drilling of glass fiber cloth,changes in the material removal mechanism are induced as the feed per revolution is varied.When the feed per revolution is less than the tool edge radius,the glass fiber is not cut by the main cutting edge,but is crushed and broken.When the feed per revolution is greater than the radius of the tool edge,the glass fiber is cut by the main cutting edge.At the same time,the established analytical model can accurately reflect the influence of the size effect on the drilling torque in PCB micro-hole drilling,and the error is within 10%.This method has certain practical application value in controlling PCB micro hole processing quality.
基金This work was funded by the Natural Science Research Project of Higher Education Institutions in Jiangsu Province(No.20KJA520007)Min Zhang receives the grant and the URLs to sponsors’websites are http://jyt.jiangsu.gov.cn/.
文摘For Printed Circuit Board(PCB)surface defect detection,traditional detection methods mostly focus on template matching-based reference method and manual detections,which have the disadvantages of low defect detection efficiency,large errors in defect identification and localization,and low versatility of detectionmethods.In order to furthermeet the requirements of high detection accuracy,real-time and interactivity required by the PCB industry in actual production life.In the current work,we improve the Youonly-look-once(YOLOv4)defect detection method to train and detect six types of PCB small target defects.Firstly,the original Cross Stage Partial Darknet53(CSPDarknet53)backbone network is preserved for PCB defect feature information extraction,and secondly,the original multi-layer cascade fusion method is changed to a single-layer feature layer structure to greatly avoid the problem of uneven distribution of priori anchor boxes size in PCB defect detection process.Then,the K-means++clustering method is used to accurately cluster the anchor boxes to obtain the required size requirements for the defect detection,which further improves the recognition and localization of small PCB defects.Finally,the improved YOLOv4 defect detection model is compared and analyzed on PCB dataset with multi-class algorithms.The experimental results show that the average detection accuracy value of the improved defect detection model reaches 99.34%,which has better detection capability,lower leakage rate and false detection rate for PCB defects in comparison with similar defect detection algorithms.
基金Projects(51074190,51234009)supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaProject(2014DFA90520)supported by International Cooperation Program of Ministry of Science of ChinaProject(20110162110049)supported by the Doctoral Scientific Fund Project of the Ministry of Education of China
文摘A novel low-temperature alkaline smelting process is proposed to convert and separate amphoteric metals in crushed metal enrichment originated from waste printed circuit boards. The central composite design was used to optimize the operating parameters,in which mass ratio of Na OH-to-CME, smelting temperature and smelting time were chosen as the variables, and the conversions of amphoteric metals tin, lead, aluminum and zinc were response parameters. Second-order polynomial models of high significance and3 D response surface plots were constructed to show the relationship between the responses and the variables. Optimum area of80%-85% Pb conversion and over 95% Sn conversion was obtained by the overlaid contours at mass ratio of Na OH-to-CME of4.5-5.0, smelting temperature of 653-723 K, smelting time of 90-120 min. The models were validated experimentally in the optimum area, and the results demonstrate that these models are reliable and accurate in predicting the smelting process.
文摘The crushing performance of printed circuit board (PCB) was studied on several crushers. The results show that PCB is a material which is difficult to crush. The crushing performance of PCB with disk crusher, especially vibration grinding, which has cut or impact action, excels that of jaw crusher or roller crusher. The PCB scrap is worthwhile to recycle using variety of modern characterization methods. When compared with natural resources, this material stream remains a rich precious metal and nonferrous metals. In PCB scrap, metals account for 47% of the total material composition, in which there exists 19.66% copper, 11.47% iron, 3.93% lead, 300 g/t gold and 510 kg/t silver, etc. In addition, the PCB scrap contains 27% of plastics and 26% of refractory oxides.
基金Project(2006AA06Z375) supported by the National High-tech Research and Development Program of China
文摘Thermal decomposition of waste epoxy PCBs was performed in different atmospheres （nitrogen, argon, air and vacuum） at a heating rate of 10 ℃/rain by DSC-TGA, and the pyrolysis characteristic was analyzed. The gases volatilized from the experiment were qualitatively analyzed by TG-FTIR. Kinetics study shows that pyrolysis reaction takes place between 300 and 400℃, and the activation energies are 256, 212 and 186.2 kJ/mol in nitrogen, argon and vacuum, respectively. There are two mass-loss processes in the decomposition under air atmosphere. In the first mass-loss process, the decomposition is the main reaction, and in the second process, the oxidation is the main reaction. The activation energy of the second mass-loss process is 99.6 kJ/mol by isothermal heat-treatments. TG-FTIR analysis shows carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen bromide, phenol and substituent phenol are given off during the pyrolysis of waste epoxy PCBs.
基金We gratefully acknowledge the support from National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.22075145).
文摘Conventional exploding foil initiator (EFI) in ignition or detonation applications hosts many performance advantages, but was hindered by the bulky, inaccurate, inefficient and expensive shortcomings. We highlight a novel micro-chip exploding foil initiator (McEFI) using printed circuit board (PCB) technology. The structural parameters were determined based on energy coupling relationship at the component interfaces. Next, the prototype McEFI has been batch-fabricated using PCB technology, with a monolithic structure of 7.0 mm (l) × 4.5 mm (w) × 4.0 mm (δ). As expected, this PCB-McEFI illustrated the successful firing validations for explosives pellets. This paper has addressed the cost problem in both military munitions and civil markets wherever reliable, insensitive and timing-dependent ignition or detonation are involved.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2019YFC1908404)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51834008, 51874040,52034002)+1 种基金the Guangxi Innovation-Driven Development Project(AA18242042-1)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (FRF-TP-18-020A3)。
文摘The recycling of waste printed circuit board(WPCBs) is of great significance for saving resources and protecting the environment. In this study, the WPCBs were pyrolyzed by microwave and the contained valuable metals Cu, Sn and Pb were recovered from the pyrolyzed WPCBs. The effect of pyrolysis temperature and time on the recovery efficiency of valuable metals was investigated. Additionally, the characterization for morphology and surface elemental distribution of pyrolysis residues was carried out to investigate the pyrolysis mechanism. The plastic fiber boards turned into black carbides, and they can be easily separated from the metals by manual. The results indicate that 91.2%, 96.1% and 94.4% of Cu, Sn and Pb can be recovered after microwave pyrolysis at 700 °C for 60 minutes. After pyrolysis, about 79.8%(mass)solid products, 11.9%(mass) oil and 8.3%(mass) gas were produced. These gas and oil can be used as fuel and raw materials of organic chemicals, respectively. This process provides an efficient and energy-saving technology for recovering valuable metals from WPCBs.
基金Special Fund Project of Science and Technology Innovation of Dongli District(21090302)Research Projectof Applied Basic and Front Technologies of Tianjin(10JCZDJC15400)
文摘In order to study the role of printed circuit board(PCB)in high-power LED heat dissipation,a simple model of high-power LED lamp was designed.According to this lamp model,some thermal performances such as thermal resistances of four types of PCB and the changes of LED junction temperature were tested under three different working currents.The obtained results indicate that LED junction temperature can not be lowered significantly with the decreasing thermal resistance of PCB.However,PCB with low thermal resistance can be matched with smaller volume heat sink,so it is hopeful to reduce the size,weight and cost of LED lamp.
基金financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(Nos.2019YFC1908400 and 2019YFC1907405)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.51904124,51804139,52004111 and 52074136)+2 种基金the Jiangxi Provincial Cultivation Program for Academic and Technical Leaders of Major Subjects(Nos.20212BCJL23052 and 20212BCJ23007)the Distinguished Professor Program of Jinggang Scholars,China Institutions of Higher Learning Jiangxi Province,the Science and Technology Research Project of the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Education(No.gjj170507)the Science Research Foundation of Jiangxi University of Science and Technology(No.jxxjbs 17046)。
文摘The effective recycling of waste printed circuit boards(WPCBs)can conserve resources and reduce environmental pollution.This study explores the pyrolysis and combustion characteristics of WPCBs in various atmospheres through thermogravimetric and Gaussian fitting analyses.Furthermore,this study analyses the pyrolysis products and combustion processes of WPCBs through thermogravimetric and Fourier transform infrared analyses(TG-FTIR)and thermogravimetry-mass spectrometry(TG-MS).Results show that the pyrolysis and combustion processes of WPCBs do not constitute a single reaction,but rather an overlap of multiple reactions.The pyrolysis and combustion process of WPCBs is divided into multiple reactions by Gaussian peak fitting.The kinetic parameters of each reaction are obtained by the Coats-Redfern method.In an argon atmosphere,pyrolysis consists of the overlap of the preliminary pyrolysis of epoxy resin,pyrolysis of small organic molecules,and pyrolysis of brominated flame retardants.The thermal decomposition process in the O_(2) atmosphere is mainly divided into two reactions:brominated flame retardant combustion and epoxy combustion.This study provided the theoretical basis for pollution control,process optimization,and reactor design of WPCBs pyrolysis.
文摘Nowadays, over 300 tons of Au are used in electronic equipment each year with other precious and strategic metals such as Ag, Pt, Pd, Cu, Nb, Ta, etc.. After the use-phase, the electronic devices become electronic waste （e-waste）; consequently it is important to consider e-waste as a secondary supply for the recovery of these metals. This paper presents the recovery ofAu, Ag, Cu and Nb from PCBs （printed circuit boards） of discarded computers using leaching column technique. The PCBs were crushed with a hammer mill until reaching a particle size between 3.33 mm to 0.43 mm, Then, it was leached with a sodium cyanide solution in a glass column using the following conditions： sodium cyanide concentration 4 g/L, flux 20 L/d kg PCBs day, pH between 10.5 to 11 and leaching time 15 days. Every day, after leaching, the pregnant solutions passed through a column with activated carbon to complete the closed loop system. The following recoveries were obtained： Au 46.6%, Ag 51.3%, Nb 47.2% and Cu 62.3%. A preliminary technical-economic study shows the feasibility to create a small-scale PCBs recycling plant. The initial investment is on the order of USS155,639, considering the recovered metals from the loaded carbon. The internal rate of return for a 10 years period IRR （internal rate of return） and NPV （net present value） estimated are 27% and US$105,926 respectively.
