Circuit board Component Recovery for Electronic Waste Reduction

Electronic Waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the US. Significant amounts are recoverable for reuse, resale, and refining for precious metals. The disassemblers send circuit boards to refiners/smelters for precious metals recovery. E-Waste disassemblers remove parts from these circuit boards, so only certain parts are smelted. As such they are the key market for our depopulator. Refiners also have an incentive to remove the parts so that only certain parts are smelted. Both are therefore potential ARR customers. The D2000 depopulator removes parts from circuit boards without using chemicals. The precious metals parts go to the smelter as opposed to the whole circuit board. The weight reduction factor is 5:1 which reduces smelting-based pollution by 5:1. With the high quality Phase I drawings, the depopulator can/will be assembled shortly after contract award. Phase II funding will allow the assembly of a depopulator which will serve as a basis for product refinement and demonstration to potential customers. This is a key to commercialization as customers wish to see the depopulator. As a risk reduction effort, ARR will team with Roboshop, a Syracuse-based company that specializes in the design/fabrication/test of conveyor systems. Roboshop is therfore ideally suited for Phase II.