Metallurgical fundamentals for an autother- mal melting of WEEE in a top blown rotary converter

The recycle flow of used electric and electronic devices is rapidly increasing in Western Europe because of the WEEE-directive 2002/96/EC from 27.01.2003. In 2006 about 7 Mio t of WEEE (Waste of Electronic and Electric Equipment) were collected within the EU-25. But only 50 % of that amount is recycled in these countries. Containing metals like copper, silver, gold, selenium, tellurium, indium, nickel, tin and lead build up a value between 1 000 and 4 000 €/tscrap depending on the commodity price. Despite this economic and ecological point of view only 50 % of WEEE is recycled in Europe. Besides the high content of valuable metals WEEE also contains plastics, ceramics and glass, which contain elements like Bromine, Chlorine and Fluorine causing special attention. IME and Aurubis are currently investigating a new process based on a top blown rotary converter (TBRC) aiming for an autothermal recycling of electronic scrap. Based on thermochemical modelling results a suitable slag for the process was validated in lab trials. Further experiments investigated the influence of the preconditioning on the metallurgy as well as oxygen consumption. The results allow for predicting a process window for the recycling process in the TBRC. First recycling trials in a 0,6 m³ demo scale TBRC with preconditioned material are planned and described. Finally an outlook will be given on process scalability and energy balance.