• Resources Recycling
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.3-10
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• 2021

The field of recycling for waste electronic components, which is the typical example of an urban mine, requires the development of useful sorting techniques. In this study, a sorter based on image identification by deep learning was developed to select electronic components into four groups. They were recovered from waste printed circuit boards and should be separated to depend on the difference after treatment. The sorter consists of a workstation with GPU, camera, belt conveyor, air compressor. A small piece (less than 3.5 cm) of electronic components on the belt conveyor (belt speed: 6 cm/s) was taken and learned as teaching data. The accuracy of the image identification was 96% as kinds and 99% as groups. The optimum condition of sorting was determined by evaluating accuracies of image identification and recovery rates by blowdown when changing the operating condition such as belt speed and blowdown time of compressed air. Under the optimum condition, the accuracy of image classification in groups was 98.7%. The sorting rate was more than 70%.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.70-81
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• 2009

The patents were searched to investigate the trend and the direction of technologies about the recycling of WEEE (waste electric and electronic equipment). Database was collected from WIPS site, and then 223 patents were selected by investigating abstracts. The patents from 1986 to 2007 were analyzed according to countries, international patent classification (IPC), companies, technologies, and recycling-target materials. The most patents were applied in Japan and by Japan companies. Patents about physical pretreatment technology are the most among the patents of the WEEE recycling technologies. Patents about printed circuit boards among target materials are the most because of its high value-added.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.23-29
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• 2018

Recently rapid economic growth and technological development have led to an increase in the generation of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). As the amount of electric and electronic waste generated increases, the importance of processing waste printed circuit boards (PCB) is also increasing. Various studies have been conducted to recycle various valuable metals contained in a waste PCB in an environmentally friendly and economical manner. To get anode slime containing Ag and Au, Anode copper prepared from PCB scraps was used by means of electro-refining. Ag and Au recovery was conducted by leaching, direct reduction, and ion exchange method. In the case of silver, the anode slime was leached at 3 M $HNO_3$, 100 g/L, $70^{\circ}C$, and Ag was recovered by precipitation, alkali dissolution, and reduction method. In the case of gold, the nitrate leaching residues of the anode slime was leached at 25% aqua regia, 200 g/L, $70^{\circ}C$, and Au was recovered by pH adjustment, ion exchange resin adsorption, desorption and reduction method. The purity of the obtained Au and Ag were confirmed to be 99.99%.