Energy Recovery from Waste of Printed Circuit Boards in Plasmatron Plasma Reactor

This paper presents results of research on the use of plasma technology for printed circuit boards (PCB) processing for metals and energy recovery. In the Industrial Research Institute for Automation and Measurements, a test stand was built allowing experiments on plasma process with throughput of 800 kg per day. Brief examination of PCB waste was carried out, focusing on identification of its heating value and composition of organic substances including C, H, O, S, and Br. Heat balance of the process is presented, including energy supplied by plasma, chemical energy released by incineration of PCB waste, heat carried out with molten metal and slag, heat carried out with exhaust fumes, and heat losses of the apparatus. Also, the incineration process is described focusing on air demand and its efficiency due to incomplete burning of the organic substances in the reactor. The presented process in total consumes 66 kW of electrical energy, and allows recovery of 117 kW of heat energy from exhaust fumes.