COPPER RECOVERY FROM ELECTRIC CABLE SCRAP BY SHAKING TABLES
C.-M. Katsari1, G.N. Anastassakis2
Mining Eng. - Metallurgist, National Technical Univ. of Athens (NTUA), Email: xristina.12@msn.com
2
Prof. Dr., School Mining Eng. - Metallurgy, NTUA, Email: ganastas@metal.ntua.gr
1
ABSTRACT
Copper is considered one of the most important industrial metals because of its properties (conductivity,
malleability) and variety of uses. Approximately 70% of the global copper is used for various electrical
applications, with a significant part of copper originating from recycling, since copper can be recycled and
re-used countless times, without any loss of performance and difference in the quality of recycled copper in
comparison to that from ore. Copper recycling significantly contributes to natural resources conservation,
waste minimization, energy saving, and overall cost reduction. Approximately, 35% of the globally
produced copper originates from recycled copper.
The objective of the current work is to investigate the recovery of copper from electric wire scraps using
wet shaking table as an alternative to air separation methods that prevail over the wet ones in recycling
processes. The tests were carried out using feed of correspondingly high- and low-grade in copper. In the
first case, the wire scraps had been subjected to shredding only prior to tabling separation; in the later, the
low-content tailing of prior air separation was used as feed in table separation.
In regard to testing, the following factors were examined: table tilt, water flow rate, and reciprocating
speed. The results of the tests clearly denote that copper wire separation from plastic polymer is feasible.
More specifically, table separation resulted in heavy products of pure copper and high recovery. On the
contrary, the copper grade of the tailings was very low.
The results of the current work clearly denote that wet tabling can be applied efficiently for the separation
of recycled copper wire from plastic, as an alternative to air separation methods, as well as for the recovery
of copper from the low-grade tailings derived from air separation methods.
KEYWORDS
Copper recycling, Copper separation from plastic, Metal recycling, Shaking table separation, Solid waste
separation