Improving Recycling Efficiency of Portable Electronics by Automating Battery Disassembly

Improving Recycling Efficiency of Portable Electronics by Automating Battery Disassembly

This project proposes to develop an automated and integrated battery disassembly process for EOL PCEs using a modular approach, as well as design and develop a component disassembly and battery removal process using a combination of mechanical (e.g., robotic disassembly, water-jet cutting), chemical, and thermal approaches to increase EOL PCE materials recover and processes throughputs

Upon completion, this project will design a prototype system, built and operated to confirm system effectiveness. This project will increase secondary materials by 0.03 million metric tons (MMT) of e-waste, 3.6 PJ energy reduction, 0.180MMTCO2e. Assumptions based on recovery of 20% of 150,000 metric tons per year of PCE discarded.

Project Team:
Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Sunnking, University at Buffalo (UB), Iowa State University (ISU)

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21-01-RM-5083

Education and Workforce Development on Chemical Recycling of Plastics

Education and Workforce Development on Chemical Recycling of Plastics

This project seeks to develop practitioner & expert level training in chemical recycling of plastics to educate, train, & develop the incumbent workforce for careers in Re-X, content will be prepared for both in-person and online delivery. The learning objectives include; to understand the state-of-the-art of various chemical recycling technologies, understand the product output for each type of chemical recycling process, understand the post-processing requirements needed to recover and separate products from a product state and to purify, modify and/or upgrade products to meet market requirements, understand the primary mechanisms for integrating the chemical recycling technologies into the supply chain for the products and co-products generated by the process, and understand the critical factors that affect the technical performance and costs of alternative chemical recycling process technologies.

The target audience for practitioner level training is intended for incumbent workers that currently work with Re-X technologies or in adjacent technology domains who wish to broaden their knowledge. Expert level training is intended to provide in-depth coverage of advanced Re-X concepts or technology and is targeted toward engineers or scientists trying to deepen their expertise.

Project Team:
University at Buffalo (UB), Resource Recycling Systems (RRS)

21-01-EWD-5074