The recycling plant utilizes UWin Nanotech’s cyanide-free environmentally-friendly metal stripping solution, and when used together with automated processing equipment, it has the capability of automatically recycling precious metals from e-waste to obtain resources such as gold, silver, palladium, copper, and tin. The factory has been completely set up and will assist Japanese e-waste recycling collectors in Tokyo, Chiba Prefecture to recycle precious metals in a more environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient manner.

Substituting Soaking for Incineration to Meet More Environmentally-Friendly Requirements

Japan is one of the most successful countries globally in terms of the implementation of recycling, and they have yielded leading results for e-waste recycling and treatment in particular. In order to further strengthen consciousness of e-waste recycling and reuse, Japan has announced that all of the prize medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be entirely manufactured from precious metals recycled from e-waste. To date, they have collected 48,000 tons of e-waste and are in the process of carrying out precious metals recycling.

However, the treatment procedures and technologies which Japan is currently utilizing are still traditional methods which make use of pulverizing and incineration; furthermore, cyanide and aqua regia are utilized to refine precious metals. These methods not only consume massive quantities of resources but are also limited in terms of recycling benefits.

As a result, Japanese resource recycling collectors have expanded their cooperation with UWin Nanotech and invested in UWin Nanotech’s environmentally-friendly gold stripping technologies. Moreover, they have established the first full-process hydrometallurgy eco-friendly gold stripping production line in Tokyo, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. This production line utilizes cyanide-free chemical methods and is integrated with automated processes which make it capable of effectively recycling precious metals found in e-waste.

Stripping Tin Prior to Sorting in Order to Improve E-Waste Recycling Efficiency

Figure 2 : UWin Nanotech’s solutions first remove IC and components.

Kenny Hsu, Managing Director of UWin Nanotech stated that UWin Nanotech’s solutions first remove IC and components with high precious metals content from the waste motherboards and then sort them into detailed categories. Through such enrichment processes, cyanide-free materials are utilized for the procedures of soaking the materials in green chemicals, and these processes can be utilized to effectively recycle precious metals, such as gold, silver, and palladium.

He also pointed out that methods which entail incineration in furnaces consume large amounts of energy, and the cost of subsequent purification is also very high. However, UWin Nanotech’s hydrometallurgy processes not only can be used to recycle a wider variety of precious metals, including tin, which has a lower melting point, but they also yield precious metals with higher purity levels. In fact, the purity levels of the recycled metals are sometimes as high as 99.99%.

Kenny Hsu also emphasized that advanced nations are currently taking environmental issues more and more seriously, and recycling methods which employ melting furnaces, which consume large amounts of energy, are bound to be eliminated. Consequently, converting to more environmentally-friendly recycling processes is an urgent matter for the recycling industry.

UWin Nanotech’s cyanide-free gold stripping technologies are equipped with green chemicals and operational safety features, and they are capable of more efficiently and rapidly recycling precious metals. Therefore, they are the optimal solutions for enterprises to develop the circular economy, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Responsible Gold.