Background of ReVolv project
It is estimated that global sales of Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panels have reached 217 million units by the end of 2013. Given that many LCDs have a short lifespan a large amount of LCDs are made redundant each year and require proper disposal (around 70 000 tonnes in 2013). The WEEE and ROHS Directives, which all EU member states are required to implement, stipulate that components containing mercury and liquid crystals must be removed from LCDs.
The recycling of Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panels is posing a particular problem for WEEE recyclers in the EU. The majority of recyclers use a manual disassembly process to remove the mercury lighting tubes and LCD panel which is a slow and labour intensive process. The difficulty of LCD disassembly combined with high costs has led to a situation of stockpiling of LCDs at recycling facilities across Europe.
The ReVolv project
The WEEE recycling industry is in urgent need of an efficient and low cost LCD recycling process to help them comply with the WEEE Directive. The Votechnik Trumaster-ALR fills the gap in this market; it is a fully automated, high through-put technology designed to meet the WEEE Directive recycling rates. The Trumaster-ALR can process 80 LCDs per hour and separate the liquid crystal glass panel and the mercury from the LCD display. The ReVolv project will allow the upscaling and commercialization of Trumaster-ALR designed for LCD panel depollution to enable further downstream recycling. The ReVolv project is a two-year initiative funded by CIP Eco-innovation.
Major ReVolv outputs and results to be achieved by the end of the project:
– Regulatory approval, WEEELABEX conformity verification and CE marking of the technology;
– Demonstration of the technology to a number of independent recyclers through-out Europe;
– A full scale commercial replication of the Trumaster-ALR LCD recycling technology
Throughout the project Votechnik will engage with all project partners and its Advisory Board to correctly position the technology in the marketplace leading to full scale commercialisation.