An electronic waste solution 

What to do with electronic waste is a world-wide problem, which often conjures up environmental justice issues, health problems, and environmental considerations. The US EPA estimates that almost75 percent of computers end up in storage and eventually in landfills.

There is a technology company in Albuquerque, New Mexico that has an e-waste recycling solution that will not only totally recycle old cell phones, computers, circuit boards, and the like but will separate the components into resalable and reusable materials.

The company, Adherent Technologies, was founded by Ron Allred, PhD in 1990 as a high-technology research and development company. They have been in the business of solving Department of Defense, NASA, and other government created problems since 1990.  Some examples of the divergent applications of their expertise include solving NASA’s problem of how to unfold a 300 meter antenna and place it between Saturn and Uranus to facilitate communication from earth for future spacecraft, and the formulation of an encapsulant to eliminate the impact on human health from asbestos dust in the hulls of US Navy ships.

However, this article is about electronic waste. Adherent Technologies has developed a novel low-temperature catalytic conversion process for recycling electronic waste. This innovative recycling process handles complex mixtures of plastics, metals, ceramics, and composites found in typical electronic components.  Products from the recycling process include valuable chemicals, metals, ceramics, and fiberglass that can be refined and reused. Little or no segregation is required for the feedstock prior to processing. The catalytic conversion process provides an sound solution to the problem of recycling electronic waste.

Electronic equipment is playing an increasingly significant role in our society.  As the equipment becomes obsolete, recycling processes and technologies are needed to reclaim value from the materials in the waste stream and divert them from landfills.  Recycling, to date, has largely been dismantling assemblies to salvage valuable components and incineration to obtain precious metals.

The Adherent Technology system is an emerging recycling technology for reclaiming valuable materials from complex polymer-based mixtures found in electronic scrap without need for hand sorting. The polymers in the feedstock mixture are converted into a low molecular weight hydrocarbon gas that is removed from the reactor and condensed into reusable fractions for use as monomers, chemicals, or fuels.  For example, polymers such as polystyrene in computer cases are converted back to styrene monomer for reuse in making new polystyrene.  The remaining solid residue is composed of the various metals, ceramics, and glass fabric from the circuit boards, components, housing, and brackets.  Extractive metallurgical techniques are used to separate those components for resale and reuse. The e-waste is then completely recycled, with zero waste generated and significantly less impact on the environment.

Date: 2023-04-10     hits: 537    Return