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“The funnel glass contains a high degree of lead oxide whereas the panel glass has no lead,” said plant manager Robert Noakes. “Remanufacturers of funnel glass can accept slight panel glass contamination in their funnel glass recyclate, but the remanufacturers of panel glass demand a pure, uncontaminated glass source.”
There are other CRT glass separation techniques, including sawing and thermal crack induction, that are also suitable for CRT remanufacturing.
Using the glass as a replacement flux in metal smelting or as crushed glass particulates in asphalt road surfaces are low-grade recovery alternatives, said Citiraya.
During laser cutting, the tube sits face down on a turntable and the laser cuts part-way through its thickness just below the frit seal glass, which joins the two components, and contains up to 65 per cent lead, said Noakes.
The process takes 30 to 90 seconds depending on the tube size and the plant can handle 450,000 to 500,000 CRTs per year, estimated to be about five to eight per cent of the UK’s CRT waste output in any one year, according to the firm.
Around half the weight of a TV is the CRT and WEEE legislation requires producers to prove 65 per cent of the weight of discarded TVs and monitors is recycled, which makes effective glass recycling essential, said Noakes.
www.citiraya.co.uk
See also: Electronics Weekly’s WEEE Directive and UK WEEE regulations, a roundup of content related to the WEEE Directive.
