About this Workshop
From the point of material composition, electronic waste can be defined as a mixture of various metals, particularly copper, aluminum and steel, attached to, covered with, or mixed with various types of plastics and ceramics. Though in small mass fraction, for cell phones, calculators and printed circuit board scraps, the precious metals, such as Au, Ag and platinum group metals, make up more than 70 percent of the value; for TV boards and DVD players, the metals contribute to about 40 percent. The major economic driver for recycling of electronic waste in industry is from the recovery of precious metals.

Currently, recycling of e-waste can be divided into three major steps:

1. Disassembly — selective disassembly, targeting hazardous or valuable components for special treatment, is an indispensable process in recycling of e-waste.
2. Upgrading — this involves using mechanical processing and/or metallurgical processing to upgrade desirable materials content, i.e., preparing materials for the refining process, such as grinding plastics into powders.
3. Refining — in the last step, recovered materials are retreated or purified by using metallurgical processing so as to be acceptable for their original use.

Attendees will learn about the following aspects of e-waste:

• Mechanical recycling
• Recycling of plastics
• Recovery of metals
• Hydrometallurgical recycling (leaching)
• Combustion or pyrolysis
• Life cycle and economic analysis for recycling

Instructors

• Christian Hagelüken. Umicore Precious Metals Refining
• Christina Meskers, Umicore Precious Metals Refining
• Dr. Hilary Nixon, San Jose State University
• Dr. Dele Ogunseitan, University of California, Irvine
• Dr. Julie Schoenung, University of California, Davis

How to Register for this Course
Register by January 16, 2009 using the online registration form or download the Registration Form (PDF) and mail or fax with your payment. The cost for this course is $475 for members / $560 for nonmembers / $0 for students.