Process And Apparatus For The Evaluation Of Valuable Metals In Electronic Scrap

Abstract: This disclosure concerns the evaluation of a noble metal content in batches of materials such as electronic scrap, and in particular printed circuit boards, which is an essential initial step when recycling is envisaged. A process is presented comprising the steps of: - imaging at least a statistical representative number of the boards of the batch; - processing the images to detect the printed circuit boards; - for each detected printed circuit board, extracting a board-related feature vector using image processing technology; and, - providing a model taking at least the board-related feature vectors as input and calculating the noble metal content of the batch as output, wherein the model is calibrated against batch-level noble metal assays. The present application deals directly with batches of printed circuit boards, allowing for an approach wherein a regression model is calibrated based on total batch assays. Printed circuit board component assays are not needed.

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