Resumen de Aplicación de la separación en campo eléctrico a la recuperación de metales a partir de residuos de la industria electrónica
Mario Menéndez Álvarez, Juan María Menéndez Aguado, Juan José del Campo Gorostidi, José Luis Rodríguez Suárez
The continuous progress of the electronic and computer systems produce important amounts of components discarded as a waste. In this work the feasibility of a separation method to obtain a metal concentrate from the comminuted residue was studied. The sample was reduced to below 1 mm size. In this condition the liberation index for the metallic fraction is higher than 90%. Further reductions in size are not recommended because the obtained increase in the liberation index does not compensate for the decrease in metal recovery. A two factorial experimental design with factors at three and four levels was implemented in order to establish the best operating conditions of a Carpco electrodynamic cylinder separator. For the fraction 1/0,1 mm a combination of 125 rpm and 35 kV voltage allows for a 94% metal recovery rate with a 96% metal content in the metallic fraction. So, the proposed separation method is effective for the production of a concentrate suitable for metallurgical treatment in order to extract the precious metals contained in it.
