Rockwell Automation has announced that its PlantPAx distributed control system (DCS) is being deployed to manage and control the gold extraction process at The Royal Mint’s precious metals recovery facility in Llantrisant, Wales.
The system is used to monitor and control a chemical extraction process that can recover gold from waste printed circuit board equipment.
The extraction technology, which was reportedly only at lab scale a few years ago, has been successfully scaled and is now operational at the site in Llantrisant.
“It’s incredibly exciting to see new technology taking huge strides like this,” said Phil Hadfield, UK managing director at Rockwell Automation.
“With e-waste being a major sustainability challenge across the world, technologies like this are essential towards carbon reduction and material re-use.”
According to Statista, electronic waste is one of the world’s fastest-growing waste streams.
With 62 million metric tons said to have been generated across the world in 2022, the volume of discarded electronic material has nearly doubled since 2010.
And with e-waste generation reportedly forecast to exceed 80 million metric tons by 2030, improved recycling and recovery infrastructure will likely be needed.
Tony Baker, director of manufacturing innovation at The Royal Mint, said: “The successful collaboration with Rockwell Automation and the deployment of its DCS solution allowed us to demonstrate the technical viability of the technology to operate at scale.
“This puts us firmly on the road to our 4,000-ton per annum target, and discussions are already well underway with regards to usage of the recovered materials, as are the plans to expand the technology further.”
Innovations and achievements in sustainability will be highlighted and celebrated at the second annual Robotics & Automation Awards on 06 November 2024 at De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London. Visit www.roboticsandautomationawards.co.uk to learn more about this unmissable industry event – and to book your table!
