The distribution of valuable metals in gasification of metal-containing residues from mechanical recycling of end-of-life vehicles and electronic waste

In the recycling of metal-containing wastes such as end-of-life vehicles (ELV), residues are generated in the mechanical pre-treatment stage. Beside organics which is the main part of the residues, they also contain metals that physical separation has not been able to separate. As the current treatment of residues is disposal through thermal processing, the process is not optimized from the point of view of metal's recovery. In this study, three gasification pilot test trials were carried out to identify how metals distribute in the treatment. The feed materials were, shredder residue from ELV treatment, low value printed circuit board from electronic waste recycling and mobile phones. The study revealed that gasification enabled the removal of the organic matter from the feed with a high carbon conversion of between 95.8 and 98.8 %. In addition, the metals were identified to end up mainly in the fine and coarse bottom ash fractions.