Lead free solutions for circuit board recycling
Due to European regulations and market demands, lead-free soldering has become a major trend in the electronics industry. Therefore, in order to increase competitiveness, the EFSOT project has advanced the dependability, efficiency and sustainability of lead-free soldering. Companies and institutes have researched scientific and technological material in order to discover lead-free solutions. These help industry to select the most suitable procedures and materials which can meet technical demands, maintain the lowest life cycle impact and preserve resources. There are important differences between the proposed processes for lead-free solder printed wire boards (PWBs) from medium or big sized post-consume equipment and the current recycling schemes. These concern the following three stages: lead-containing and lead-free solder PWBs sorting, valuable components recovery for reuse purpose and recovery of lead-free solders concentrates. The effects of lead-free solders in the recycling market and the theoretical behaviour of lead-free solder PWBs in copper smelters have also been examined.