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PCBRec process: Waste Printed Circuit Board (WPCB) Recycling with Molten Salts

Objective

The ambition of Composite Recycling Ltd is to establish its patented PCBRec process, as a cost and environmentally preferred process for the treatment of all types of waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs). Every year about 400,000 tons of WPCBs are generated in Europe of which over 90% are land filled or incinerated; resulting a large loss of valuable metals such as copper, gold, silver, solder, indium etc. Printed circuit boards are used in almost all electronic equipment such as televisions, computers or mobile phones. Hence PCBRec is an important contribution of solving a large EU and indeed global solid waste problem.

The PCBRec technology disrupts the WPCB recycling market by offering many significant advantages over current technologies:
• Yields: over 95% recovery rate of copper, steel and solder as established by laboratory and pilot plant trials, which showed that the PCBRec process greatly exceeds the yields of current technologies of about 70-80%.
• Critical metals: for the first time critical metals may be recyclable from WPCBs.
• All types of PCBs: not just high value WPCBs.
• Scalability: the technology is modular, allowing capacity increases in a systematic fashion.
• Simple reactor from established industries (hot dip galvanising): no moving parts minimising capital costs.

The IRR of a PCBRec plant is estimated to be over 15% for low value and 80% for medium value WPCBs. These IRR figures exclude recovery of precious metals such as gold or silver. Over 15 plants with throughputs of 15-20,000 t/y and CAPEX of €8.5 million are required in Europe. Worldwide some additional 40 plants are required resulting, overall, in a large market.

In Europe significant regulatory drivers exist for the further development of the PCBRec technology in form of the WEEE Directive and the drive towards the circular economy. Many US states, Canada, Australia and Japan legislate WEEE similar to Europe, turning the PCBRec process into a global business opportunity.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-SMEInst-2016-2017

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Coordinator

COMPOSITE RECYCLING LIMITED
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 50 000,00
Address
THE RUBICON CENTRE CIT CAMPUS BISHOPSTOWN
T12 Y275 CORK
Ireland

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Ireland Southern South-East
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 71 429,00
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