CSG Steps Up Copper Recovery Programme

21 May 2012 by Daryl Tunningley

A process to remove corrosive chloride ions from metal bearing liquid wastes containing copper chloride enabling recovery by electrolysis has been developed by waste treatment specialist Cleaning Service Group (CSG) who operate a specialist metals recovery operation. A major source of the waste is from the printed circuit board manufacturing industry where it is widely used as an etchant.

Eliminating chloride from the waste enables the company to recover valuable copper at 99.9 per cent purity.  The process has been developed from CSG’s pioneering copper and nickel recovery operation at its waste treatment and recovery centre at Cadishead.

After completing the newly developed process to remove the chloride, the copper recovery operation employs a multi-stage pre-treatment process centred on Ion Exchange (IEX) technology to concentrate and purify the waste solution, followed by Electrowinning to recover the pure metal.

Copper’s high thermal and electrical conductivity properties are exploited in a wide range of products and with a price of some $9,000 (£5,500) per tonne it is increasingly important that much as possible is recovered to help preserve the world’s shrinking resources.

CSG Managing Director Neil Richards said: “CSG invests heavily in developing new waste treatment and recovery technologies and this new process, which has the potential to be developed further, is a prime example of this commitment to maximise the recovery of valuable metals and other by-products of waste which otherwise would have been lost.”

Hampshire-based CSG, which is one of the UK’s fastest growing independent businesses, operates nationally and provides waste management services ranging from metals recovery to domestic sewage collection. It runs the UK’s largest hazardous waste treatment and recovery centre at Cadishead, Manchester, as well as depots throughout the country.