Scale-up of an electronic component sorting bench

Full description

If today’s electronic waste (WEEE) can be described as an “urban mine”, it’s because it abounds in metals that are in essential supply crisis in today’s economy. However, in practice, only a minority of these elements are recycled. The major barriers to recycling are the high dilution and variability of each species, and the quantity of different metals mixed together in the overall waste stream.

To overcome this barrier, one solution is to separate upstream the components that concentrate the critical metals in electronic boards. An initial prototype of a component screening bench incorporating computer vision under visible light and multi-energy X-ray transmission spectroscopy (MEXRT), has demonstrated that it is possible to cost-effectively recycle a number of currently non-exploited metals. On this first version, components are processed on a single line at 10 kg/h. The prototype will have to be improved to prove that it can be adapted on an industrial scale.

Location

CEA-Saclay, France

Internship conditions

• Internship duration: 6 months
• Level of study: Bac+5
• Training: Master 2
• Continuation in PhD thesis: Yes
• Application deadline: 3 février 2025

Supervisor

Jean-Christophe GABRIEL
Phone: +33 1 69 08 35 59
Email :