International Seminar on Electronic Waste

UMICORE BRASIL
Ricardo Rodrigues

February 22nd , 2011

Umicore Group

Umicore Brazil

The e-scrap recycling chain

What to do in Brazil? South America?

Conclusions

Material technology company with focus on clean technologies

Workforce: 14,000
> 70 industrial locations worldwide

Umicore structure

Umicore in Hoboken: processing 300,000 tpy, + 200 different types of raw materials
By-products Recyclable products Others

By-products from nonferrous industry

Spent Industrial Catalysts

Electronic Scrap

Spent Automotive Catalysts

Precious metal bearing raw materials

e.g. drosses from lead smelters, slimes from copper industry,

Industrial catalysts from oil refining & petrochemical industry

e.g. printed circuit boards

end-of-life car catalysts

e.g. fuel cells, photographic residues

Electronic Scrap
- Printed circuit boards (PCBs) - Cell phones( handsets ) - Connectors

Umicore Group

Umicore Brazil

The e-scrap recycling chain

What to do in Brazil? South America?

Conclusions

Umicore Brazil
UPMR operates in BRAZIL with the following activities:
Sampling & Assaying operation for SAC, SIC and JEWELRY SCRAP; Handling & Warehousing for E-SCRAP.

UPMR structure is serving the South-American market;

Umicore Group Umicore Brazil The e-scrap recycling chain What to do in Brazil? South America?

Conclusions

Recycling chain
e-scrap collection dismantling preprocessing materials recovery recycled metals/ elements

Consumer Corporative Institutions

OEMS SCRAP DEALERS

separated components & fractions OEMS E-WASTE management companies WASTE management companies

E-WASTE management companies WASTE management companies Logistic companies;

Cables; Plastics Aluminium Fe PCBs Batteries - etc.

Precious Metals + 12 types of different metals

Recycling companies

Who is a recycler?
Every (serious) stakeholder in the chain is somehow a recycler. A waste management company or a pre-processor is not a recycler of (technology) metals in the stricter sense, they prepare materials for final recovery. Many waste management companies have their roots in bulk waste & mass metals (steel, copper, aluminium) and traditionally focus on mass throughput and cost. Many scrap dealers and (global) traders raise the impression to do recycling. Having recycling pictures on the website or recycling in a company name is no sufficient proof for real recycling. Only the metallurgical processes of Umicore type finally recover (isolate & refine) the (technology) metals in a way that they can be fed back into the market. Their success depends on the quantity & quality of the feed from the upstream chain.

The structures in the recycling chain need to adapt to todays requirements of professional, ethical and transparent business execution.

E-scrap: Umicores focus material

E-scrap is a complex mix of: Ag, Au, Pd (precious metals) Cu, Al, Ni, Sn, Zn, Fe (base metals) Hg, Be, Pb, Cd, As, Sb, Bi (PIA metals) Br, F, Cl... (halogens) plastics (combustibles) e-scrap contains valuable metals & resources & as such represents a true surface mine, which must not be wasted sustainable processing in environmentally sound and robust operations

Via Umicore Battery Recycling, we also offer recycling solutions for Rechargeable batteries (NiMH, Liion, Li-polymer)

High Tech & Economies of Scale

Key for precious metals refining from complex materials
Umicores integrated smelter/refinery at Hoboken/Antwerp
Collection Dismantling Preprocessing Materials recovery

ISO 14001 & 9001, OHSAS 18001

Focus PM-containing secondary material, input > 300 000 t/a, global customer basis Recovery of 7 PM & 11 other metals: Au, Ag, Pt, Pd, Rh, Ru, Ir, Cu, Pb, Ni, Sn, Bi, Se,
Recycled metal value 2007: 3 Bn US-$ Te, Sb, As, In, Ga.

Investments since 1997: 400 M ; Invest. for comparable green field plant: >> 1 Bn ! Complex processes, high recovery rates >> 95 % for PM, minimal waste

End-processors (Recyclers) Two approaches

Umicore Au yield >> 95% backyard recycling low tech
High losses, few metals recovered only dramatic environment & health impacts Typical for most Asian & African countries

Au yield 25%

integrated metals smelting/refining high tech

+ high PM yields + special & base metals recovered + elimination of hazardous substances + high environmental standard
foto: EMPA/CH

Umicore Group

Umicore Brazil

The e-scrap recycling chain

What to do in Brazil? South America?

Conclusions

What to do in Brazil? Recommendations Umicore

Create legislative framework that promotes/facilitates collection & recycling;
Define reliable supervision of recycling standards; Determine reasonable collection and recycling targets;

Develop and implement communication program, end-user must be informed about what to do with e-waste; Assure organized collection first before thinking of next steps => If no collection => no recycling;
Mobilising relevant EoL products for proper collection instead of stocking, landfill or incineration.

What to do in Brazil? Recommendations Umicore

Maximize the use of manual dismantling and minimize mechanical pre-processing for complex products: => The more complex/interlinked the material, the less selective are mechanical separation processes and the higher are losses of precious metals by cosegregation => Do not underestimate the job creation potential of (WEEE)-recycling (especially in collection and preprocessing) => Recycling as a means to fight against poverty

What to do in Brazil? Recommendations Umicore

Transfer the informal sector to FORMAL instead of excluding them + make use of their strengths (collection, preprocessing, ); Transparency in the information is a key component for the evaluation of the program.
- Quantity of collected devices? - Technical & environmental performance of pre-treatment? - Final destination of output fractions? - Quantity of metals/materials recycled?

Preventing illegal exports by creating specific NCM for relevant EoL products & increasing transparency in flows; Create a system to control the e-waste exporting companies;

What to do in Brazil? Is there a need for a precious metals smelter/refiner in Brazil?

End-processing is crucial for final value generation & toxic control; Recycling trace elements from complex products needs high-tech, large scale processes which cannot be duplicated in any country (=> need for economies of scale); End-processing technology/capacity available in Europe (Umicore):
Is sufficient to serve the Brazilian e-scrap market; Can return more metals / more money than local refining solutions can; Guarantees best environmental performance.

Umicore Group Umicore Brazil The e-scrap recycling chain

What to do in Brazil? South America? Conclusions

Conclusions
NATIONAL POLICY OF SOLID RESIDUES, must be seen as an opportunity in respect to:
job creation; reduce emissions; save energy and natural resources. Consider recycling chain as a complex, interlinked-chain: without collection, no recycling without a serious recycling partner, high metal losses & environmental risk Use strengths of Brazilian recycling society: Transfer the informal sector to FORMAL use manual labour to do focused disassembly of PCs & other complex products limit mechanical pre-processing (shredding) of these to an absolute minimum

Conclusions
For smelting/refining of complex (precious) metal bearing fractions, make use of best available technology, also if this technology is currently not located in Brazil; EXPORTING is also an important tool to create revenues to the country;

Umicore is the reliable, globally-active long-term partner to process your precious metal bearing e-scraps

Ricardo.rodrigues@am.umicore.com www.umicore.com.br

christian.hagelueken@eu.umicore.com thierry.vankerckhoven@umicore.com www.preciousmetals.umicore.com