Recycling of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to generate enriched rare metal concentrate

An eco-friendly process for recycling obsolete PCBs to get enriched rare-metal concentrate using physical separation technique is discussed. Metal concentration in digital video disc (DVD) PCBs is ~43 wt.% whereas in vacuum cleaner (VC) PCBs ~30 wt.% with rare metal of ~2.8%. Concentrate grade of ~88% total metals including ~5.85% rare metals in-case of DVD-PCBs while ~90% of total metals including ~2.81% rare metals in-case of VC-PCBs was achieved by froth flotation. While ~75% total metals including ~9.41% rare metals for DVD-PCBs and ~65% total metals including ~5.10% rare metals for VC-PCBs was obtained by pneumatic separation.