Cucchiella, F., D’Adamo, I., Lenny Koh, S.C. et al. (1 more author) (2016) A profitability assessment of European recycling processes treating printed circuit boards from waste electrical and electronic equipments. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 64. pp. 749-760. ISSN 1364-0321
Abstract
The management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is a well-stressed topic in the scientific literature. However, (i) the amount of cash flows potentially reachable, (ii) the future profitability trends and (iii) the reference mix of treated volumes guaranteeing a certain profitability level are not so clear, and related data are unrecoverable. The purpose of the paper is to fill in this gap by identifying the presence of profitability within the recovery process of waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) embedded in WEEE. Net present value (NPV) and discounted payback time (DPBT) are used as reference indexes for the evaluation of investments. In addition, a sensitivity analysis of critical variables (plant saturation level, materials content, materials market prices, materials final purity level and WPCBs purchasing and opportunity costs) demonstrates the robustness of the results. Furthermore, the calculation of the national NPV for each of the twenty-eight European nations (in function of both WPCB mix and generated volumes) and the matching of predicted WPCB volumes (within the 2015–2030 period) and NPV quantify potential advantages. The break even point of gold allowing some profits from selected recovery plants goes from 73 to 93 ppm per WPCB ton, for mobile and field plants, respectively. Finally, the overall European values go from 2404 million € (mobile plant) to 4795 million € (field plant) in 2013, with Germany and United Kingdom as reference nations.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) |
Keywords: | Economic analysis; Recycling; Waste electrical and electronic equipments; Waste printed circuit boards; Resource assessment |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Management School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 26 Oct 2016 10:51 |
Last Modified: | 14 Jul 2018 00:38 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.06.057 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.rser.2016.06.057 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:106278 |