171
9.6 LED Recycling Processes
According to Ayres and Pieró (2017) and Buchert et al. (2009), the amounts of critical metals in finished products are very low, which makes it difficult to classify and
sort these metals at the end of a product’s lifecycle.
As a circular economy method, the mass recycling of waste is relatively simple,
but it poses challenges when recycling modern, complex devices built with several
materials (Reuter and Van Schaik 2015).
LEDs present low return rates due to their long life cycle; so, the fate of LED
waste is not an urgent issue. However, the fast expansion of the market of LEDs
used for lighting makes it clear that the recycling of these products will become
environmentally relevant in the future (Gassmann et al. 2016).
Fig. 9.9 Wafer after
deposition of layers.
(Source: ABILUX 2017)
Fig. 9.10 Flowchart of LED production. (Source: Adapted from Stasiak 2013)
9 Recycling Processes for the Recovery of Metal from E-waste of the LED Industry
9.6 LED Recycling Processes
According to Ayres and Pieró (2017) and Buchert et al. (2009), the amounts of critical metals in finished products are very low, which makes it difficult to classify and
sort these metals at the end of a product’s lifecycle.
As a circular economy method, the mass recycling of waste is relatively simple,
but it poses challenges when recycling modern, complex devices built with several
materials (Reuter and Van Schaik 2015).
LEDs present low return rates due to their long life cycle; so, the fate of LED
waste is not an urgent issue. However, the fast expansion of the market of LEDs
used for lighting makes it clear that the recycling of these products will become
environmentally relevant in the future (Gassmann et al. 2016).
Fig. 9.9 Wafer after
deposition of layers.
(Source: ABILUX 2017)
Fig. 9.10 Flowchart of LED production. (Source: Adapted from Stasiak 2013)
9 Recycling Processes for the Recovery of Metal from E-waste of the LED Industry