• Resources Recycling
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.63-67
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• 2014

Gallium is an important material and is used by industry of oxide semi-conductor and LED chip. However, the most of the gallium-containing waste resources became outflow abroad and the most of which is imported from oversea by following technical problem and low circulation rate. In this research, the recovery of high purity Gallium metal from Gallium scrap, which containing about 30% of Gallium, was investigated by using hydro-metallurgical process. As pretreatment, the Gallium scrap was pulverized and leached by strong acid such as hydro chloric acid. At the leached solution, Indium was separated as an Indium sponge by substitution reaction and then Gallium and Zinc hydroxide separated and filtrated using strong alkaline solution such as sodium hydroxide by precipitation method. Also, Gallium metal and Zinc metal was recovered by electrowinning method. To make an electrolytic solution, Gallium and Zinc hydroxide was leached by strong alkaline solution. Finally, High purity Gallium metal was recovered by vacuum refining process to remove the Zinc impurity.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.55-63
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• 2018

Physical property changes of printed circuit board (PCB) according to heat treatment conditions were investigated. The heat treatment was carried out in air and nitrogen atmosphere at temperature range from $200^{\circ}C$ to $325^{\circ}C$. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that the PCB was pyrolyzed in two steps. The thickness of PCB expanded by 11~28% at about $300^{\circ}C$ in both air and nitrogen atmosphere as layer disintegration occurred. Mechanical strength of PCB decreased from 338.4 MPa to 20.3~40.2 MPa due to the delamination caused by the heat treatment. The heated printed circuit boards were crushed and sieved for analysis of density distribution and liberation degree of copper according to particle size. As a result of the density distribution measurement, non metallic particles and copper particles were concentrated into different size range, respectively. The liberation degree of copper was improved from 9.3% to 100% at size range of $1,400{\sim}2,000{\mu}m$ by heat treatment.

• 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.18 no.4
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• pp.14-23
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• 2009

In terms of resources recycling and resolving waste disposal problems, it is very important to recover precious metals like Au, Ag and Pd and valuable metals like Cu, Sn and Ni from the scraps of waste electrical and electronic equipment(WEEE) that consists of detective electrical and electronic parts discarded during manufacturing electrical and electronic equipments and waste electrical and electronic parts generated during disassembling them. In general, the scraps of WEEE are composed of various metals and alloys as well as refractory oxides and plastic components. Precious and valuable metals from the scraps of WEEE can be recovered by gas-phase-volatilization, hydrometallurgical, or pyrometallurgical processes. However, the gas-phase-volatilization and hydrometallurgical processes have been suggested but not yet commercialized. At the present time, most of the commercial plants for recovering precious and valuable metals from the scraps of WEEE adopt pyrometallurgical processes. Therefore, in this paper, the technical and environmental aspects on the important pyrometallurgical processes through literature survey are reviewed, and the scale-up result of a new pyrometallurgical process for recovering the precious and valuable metals contained in the scraps of WEEE using waste copper slag is presented.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.55-62
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• 2016

Steel structures exposed to extremely corrosive environment like marine environments and industrial area are generally manufactured by applying various protection treatment to increase their lifetime. Metal spraying is one of the protection methods to overcome some drawbacks of the widely employed technologies. Therefore, lots of research needs to be done to improve the corrosion resistance of steel structures. In this study, the corrosion resistance of steel structures was evaluated with the variation in the type and thickness of metal spray by measuring the corrosion potential and current density. As a raw material for spraying, Zn, Al and their mixture were employed to obtain coating thickness of $30{\sim}100{\mu}m$. Our data indicated that the pure zinc coating with $100{\mu}m$ showed the lowest corrosion potential. In the case of pure Al and Zn 85%-Al 15%, the corrosion potential and current density was decreased compared to pure zinc. It was found that the corrosion potential was decreased with the increase of coating thickness irrespective of the type of the coating.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.56-65
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• 2017

This study is an experimental study on the corrosion protection performance according to the configuration ratio of the Zn and Al. A metal spraying was used as the arc metal spraying method, a specimen was produced by varying the proportion ratio and coating thickness of the Zn and Al. Experimental methods visually observed to corrosion of the specimen for 1, 3, 7, 15 days was conducted in accordance with the CASS salt spray test. This study has confirmed that the performance of the corrosion protection improved against the increase in the Al content. Further, it was confirmed that excellent perfomance is exhibited when the coating thickness is secured over $80{\mu}m$. In addition, the SEM analysis was performed to observe the cross-sectional shape of the metal spraying specimen after CASS testing. The analysis result showed that the deterioration of the metal spraying coating layer was reduced as the Al content increases.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.3-12
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• 2003

Physical separation containing grinding, sieving, dry magnetic separation and air classification were carried out in order to recover Ta anode from waste Ta condenser. Roll crusher wat used for the liberation of resin and metals in closed circuit system. The liberation between Ta anode and resin was easily achieved, whereat some of metals did not liberated from the Ta anode when the waste condenser was crushed below 8 mesh. When the crushed sample were divided into 8/10 mesh, 10/18 mesh and -18 mesh, metals was mainly remained in 8/10 mesh in contrast to Ta anode was in +18 mesh. It was shown that resin was more easily crushed rather than metals from the result of that resin content was 71.5％ in -18 mesh. The liberation efficiency was different with the input size of the crushed sample and average efficiency was 62.3% due to the locked Ta anode particles. The results of air classification test for the crushed samples showed that optimal air flow are 39㎥/h, 32㎥/h, 20㎥/h. respectively. When the sample were separated with optimal condition, 94.45％ Ta anode containing 97.47 wt.％ Ta anode, 0.93 wt.％ resin. 1.61 wt.％ metal was recovered with 49.39 wt.％ yield.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.36-45
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• 2011

The recovery of platinum group metals (PGMs) from the leach solution of spent auto-catalyst and the wash solution of the leach residue was investigated in the laboratory scale experiments by the cementation process using metal powders as the reductant. In this study, the effect of Al, Mg and Zn powders on the cementation process was particularly examined. Aluminum powder was selected as the most suitable reductant for the cementation of PGMs. At the cementation time of 10 minute under the aluminium stoichimetric amount of 19.3 and the reaction temperature of $50{\sim}60^{\circ}C$, the recovery of platinum group metals from the leach solution of the spent auto-catalyst was found to be 99.3%, 99.4%, 90.2% for Pt, Pd and Rh, respectively. Under the same conditions with the aluminium stoichimetric amount of 45, the recovery of platinum group metals from the wash solution of the leach residue of spent catalyst was observed to be 97%, 97% and 90% for Pt, Pd and Rh, respectively. In addition, it was possible to upgrade the platinum group metals in the precipitates obtained from the cementation process by about 10% through the removal of metal impurities by the nitric acid leaching at ambient temperature.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.67-78
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• 2023

The rare metals used as raw materials in high-tech industries undergo changes in demand structures and supply chains following domestic industrial structural shifts and technological advancements, exhibiting high price volatility. Therefore, it is necessary to periodically analyze changes in the demand structures of rare metals. Since domestic demand for most rare metals relies on imports in Korea, the changes in domestic demand for rare metals can be identified by analyzing changes in their trade structure. In the present study, we analyze the changes in trade volume, trade growth rate, trade rankings, and trading countries from 2000 to 2022 for 35 rare metals, categorized into five types-ores, metals, alloys, compounds, and scrap. The trade of the raw materials of rare metals in Korea has generally increased since the 2000s, except for a significant decline in 2009 and 2016. The total trade volume, encompassing both exports and imports, has increased by approximately tenfold in 2022 compared to 2001. Until the mid-2010s, the trade of the raw materials of rare metals was primarily focused on those used in steel-manufacturing such as silicon, nickel, chrome, molybdenum, manganese, and others. However, after that period, there has been an increase in the trade of platinum group metals like palladium, rhodium, platinum, and the raw materials of rare metals for secondary battery-manufacturing such as lithium and cobalt. Particularly in 2022, lithium has become the largest share in trade of the raw materials of rare metals in Korea, due to the price surge and increase in demand.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.15 no.5 s.73
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• pp.3-10
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• 2006

The solvent extraction for the separation of platinum group metals from the leach liquor of spent automotive catalysts has been studied. Tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP), tri-n-octylamine (TOA) and di-n-hexyl sulfide (DHS) were used as extractants and kerosene as a diluent. The extraction behavior of platinum, palladium and rhodium has been investigated as functions of different kinds of extractants and their concentrations. In addition, the extraction behavior of the major metal impurities such as cerium, lead, iron, magnesium and aluminum has been investigated. Platinum and palladium were extracted with TBP. And platinum, palladium and rhodium were extracted with TOA. Platinum was co-extracted with palladium into the organic phase by solvent extraction using SFI-6 of DHS extractant, but only palladium was selectively extracted with SFI-6R. The selective extraction of palladium with SFI-6R was found better than that with SFI-6, but the kinetics of extraction with SFI-6R was found poor in comparison to SFI-6. The metal impurities extracted simultaneously during the extraction of platinum group metals should be removed in scrubbing and stripping processes. A suitable process has been proposed for the separation of platinum group metals from the leach liquor of spent automotive catalysts. Initially palladium was extracted with SFI-6R, followed by the separation of platinum with TBP or TOA leaving rhodium in the raffinate.