A PCB (Printed Circuit Board) Recycling Plant is a specialized industrial facility designed to recover valuable metals and materials from electronic waste (e-waste). While PCBs make up only about 3% to 6% of total e-waste by weight, they often account for over 40% of its total metal value due to high concentrations of gold, silver, and copper.The Recycling Process StagesModern plants primarily use a mechanical "physical recovery" process because it is more environmentally friendly than traditional smelting.Dismantling: Skilled technicians or automated machines remove large components like capacitors, heatsinks, and integrated circuits (chips).Shredding & Crushing: The "bare" boards are fed into a double-shaft shredder to break them into manageable pieces, followed by a hammer crusher that reduces them to roughly 10–20 mm fragments.Pulverizing: A high-speed grinder turns the fragments into a fine powder (a mixture of metal and resin/fiberglass).Air Separation: Using airflow, the plant separates the lighter non-metallic powder (resin/fiber) from the heavier metallic particles.Electrostatic Separation: High-voltage separators exploit the different electrical conductivities of the materials to achieve metal purities exceeding 99%.Refining (Optional): The recovered metal concentrate is further treated—often via hydrometallurgy (chemical leaching)—to isolate precious metals like gold ($Au$) and silver ($Ag$).Economic & Environmental ValueRecycling PCBs is often referred to as "Urban Mining" because the concentration of metals in a circuit board is significantly higher than in natural ores.Environmental ImpactPollution Prevention: Prevents heavy metals like lead, mercury, and cadmium from leaching into groundwater.Carbon Reduction: Recycling uses significantly less energy than mining virgin ore, reducing carbon emissions by up to 60%.Closed Loop: It returns materials to the manufacturing cycle, reducing the need for destructive mining practices.Would you like me to find a specific equipment manufacturer or detailed economic feasibility studies for a 350-ton-per-year plant?This video provides a complete visual walkthrough of the mechanical recycling line, showing how motherboards are broken down and sorted into copper and resin.