Recycling Solution

CRT Recycling: Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT) contain significant amounts of lead and glass which can be recovered and reused. As a first step, CRT display units are unloaded at Bharat Recycling’s recycling facility and scanned by barcode reader. The scan details are then uploaded on the system. Next the CRT cutter system separates the glass panel and glass and fluorescent powder (lead & phosphor) is collected. The process involves glass cutting, heating through metal band & air blow. Next, they are sent to the vacuum chamber, following which the lead and phosphor are collected in bags, while the glass is collected in folders. For processing one CRT unit the machine takes roughly 90 seconds. Circuit boards, chips and other parts are recycled separately.

Flat Panel Display Unit Recycling: Recycling of TFT and flat panel display units begins with the segregation of the device, following which the unit is dismantled. During dismantling components like wires, cables and PCBs are segregated and sent for recycling separately. The display unit then goes through the mechanical shredder, where it is processed. Next the unit is passed through the Magnetic Separator, where ferrous metals are automatically removed. The next stage involves the separation and collection of non-ferrous metals like aluminium, copper etc. in the Eddy Current Separator. The separated components are then processed individually. The plastic components left behind after the eddy current separator stage is segregated and recycled. The ferrous components collected from the magnetic separator are processed to iron, while the copper and aluminium collected from the eddy current separator are smelted and go through electro-refining, where metals are refined to 99.9% purity.

Recycling of lithium-ion & lead acid batteries at Bharat Recycling’s facility begins with battery breaking. The lead acid batteries are broken down to recover lead. The top portion of the battery is removed and the acid is drained out for neutralization. The top portion is transported to a hammer mill, where the plastic is shredded and the lead posts that are fixed on the top are released. The remaining portion of the case along with its contents and the battery plates are passed through a trammel, which extracts the plates. The plastic is then separated by passing through a mill, and extracted via clarifiers and stockpiled for furnace feed.

The next step involves furnace smelting. There are three main constituents that make up the charge for lead smelting – lead bearing materials, reducing agents and oxygen. The reducing agents used include coke and iron, along with sodium carbonate for facilitating slag formation. All these materials are charged into the furnace during one operation. The rotary action of the furnace facilitates mixing. The slag is then tapped, cooled, broken, disposed and the recovered lead along with its impurities is sent to the refinery for specification.

When the bullion lead reaches the refinery, it is first cleaned of molten oxides and sulphides by lowering the temperature of the lead, which decreases the solubility of the impurities. Once the oxides and sulphides have been removed, the metal is treated for alloy specification to remove metals like copper, tin, antimony etc. After the metal has been purified, it is cast into lead ingots and can be reused.

Apart from lead-acid batteries, Bharat Recycling recycles all other types of batteries classified as e-waste by the EPA.

Electronic printed circuit boards are complex assemblies that include numerous materials, and these materials require large quantities of energy and other materials to manufacture. They also include significant quantities of metals such as lead, copper and nickel. While some of these are toxic in nature, all of them are valuable resources.

The recycling of electronic printed circuit boards begins with the circuit boards being passed through the Component Removal Machine. This machine automatically separates all the assembled components on the circuit board. It is then pulverized and shredded. The output from these processing stages is the blank board and its components. The blank board primarily contains copper, which is smelted and electro-refined to obtain 99.9% pure copper bars. The separated components are classified as heavy and light chips and include transistors, diodes, connectors and miscellaneous parts such as capacitors and heat sinks among others. Magnetic separation is carried out to separate ferrous metals as well as some of the copper alloys. This is followed by eddy current separation to separate non-ferrous metals. All of these components are smelted to obtain pure metals. Plastic components are separated through density based separation.

I.T. goods include various electronics ranging from desktops, laptops and servers to printers, scanners and copiers. Once these electronics items are received at Bharat Recycling’s processing plant they are checked to determine whether they should be recycled or refurbished. After segregating the units suitable for refurbishing they are forwarded to Bharat Recycling’s refurbishing section, while the remaining units are sent for recycling.The electronics sent for recycling are first segregated and then dismantled. During dismantling, the wire and cable components in the devices are taken out and sent for recycling. Next, the components like LCD, PCB, RAM, SMPS and plastic parts are segregated and recycled separately. The remaining components are sent for processing to the mechanical shredder, following which they are sent to the magnetic separator. The magnetic separator separates the ferrous components from which iron is extracted. The remainder is then passed through the Eddy Current separator, which separates non-ferrous metals like copper and aluminium. These metals are then smelted and purified. The plastic components are forwarded for plastic recycling at Bharat Recycling’s plant.