What is the cost of recycling printed circuit boards in India?

Printed circuit boards usually contain about 40% precious metals, such as gold, copper, aluminum, silver, chrome, etc., which can bring high profit. Many Indian want to start a printed circuit board recycling business, but they are afraid that the investment will be too high and they will not get a return, so they delay doing it. Well, what is the cost of recycling printed circuit boards in India? Let's have a look.

1. Cost of purchasing raw materials

Different types of printed circuit boards

Waste printed circuit boards, like used computer and mobile motherboards, are relatively easy to collect in India, which is a big country of e-waste. But different suppliers and circuit boards have different recycling prices. You can choose a cheap recycler to cooperate with him.

2. Cost of transporting raw materials

Different ways of transporting

Transportation costs are related with transportation distance, transportation method, packaging and protection, transportation scale, and transportation time. For example, if the recycling facility is far from the source of the printed circuit boards, the shipping costs will increase accordingly. The transportation time is long, the shipping cost will also increase.

3. Cost of recycling methods

Different recycling methods will also affect the cost of recycling printed circuit boards.

a. Thermal Smelting:

Thermal smelting

Thermal smelting is a method in which circuit boards are treated at high temperatures to recover the metal. But it is relatively expensive due to the high temperature furnace required and high energy consumption. In addition, it may also produce harmful gases and waste water to environment, requiring additional treatment and discharge measures, increasing the environmental management costs.

b. Hydrosmelting:

Chemical solution to dissolve metals

Hydrosmelting is a method that uses a chemical solution to dissolve metals in circuit boards, which can efficiently recover metals and can handle complex circuit boards. But, this method requires expensive chemicals and specialized equipment, so it is costly. In addition, additional costs and measures are required for the treatment and disposal of waste liquids.

c. Electrochemical method:

Electrochemical method is a method that uses an electrolytic process to recover metals from circuit boards. This method can recover metals efficiently and with low environmental impact. However, electrochemical method requires specialized equipment and chemicals, and thus are relatively costly.

d. Mechanical shredding:

Mechanical shredding is a common recycling method that uses waste circuit boards recycling equipment to shred circuit boards into small particles and then separate. This method is relatively low-cost, because it doesn't require complex chemical treatments or energy-intensive equipment.

Waste circuit board recycling equipment

But different recycling equipment will also have different costs. The cost of waste circuit board recycling equipment is affected by configuration, capacity, quality, suppliers and other factors. You should choose the suitable waste circuit board recycling equipment accordingly.

If you wanna learn more about the cost of recycling printed circuit boards in India, and need printed circuit board recycling machine, welcome to contact us feel free.