Metal recovery from wire scrap via a chloride volatilization process: Poly(vinyl chloride) derived chlorine as volatilization agent

After Cu is separated from discarded wires, the flexible PVC wire scrap still contains detectable amounts of Cu. This residual Cu can be recovered by employing a chloride volatilization process. In this study, the chlorine contained in PVC was used to recover more than 80% of Cu as CuCl at 900 °C when the HCl content in the atmosphere was sufficiently high. The flexible PVC waste itself contained various metal ions from stabilizers and other additives. More than 90% of Sn and Zn could be recovered at 500 °C, followed by lead, together with some iron impurities at 700 °C, while some iron and magnesium reduced the purity of Cu recovered at 900 °C. Therefore, the volatilization of metal chlorides from PVC wire scrap makes it possible to separate various metals at different temperatures.