creating a circular economy for hard disk drives a shared...
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Creating a Circular Economy for Hard Disk Drives –A Shared Vision
Carol Handwerker (Purdue University)Bill Olson (Seagate)Mark Schaffer (iNEMI)
ACS Green Chemistry – Portland OR
18 June 2018
Key Findings from iNEMI Metals Recycling Project
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• Need: “Value Recovery“ in the context of a circular
economy
• Key role for iNEMI and its members to play in increasing
metals recovery, while promoting sustainable electronics.
– Focus on value recovery
– Focus on innovative designs, business models,
technologies, supply chains
– Focus on community building and self-managing the
commons
• Of particular importance is the ability of iNEMI to convene
stakeholders to solve common problems
Creating a Circular Economy for HDDs
Phase 1
www.inemi.org
Value Recovery from Used Electronics
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iNEMI Phase 2 project started in October 2017–• In-kind funding model -
• self-assembling and self-managing group setting
common goals (Ostrom framework)
• Demonstration of circular economy for HDDs:
supply chain, economics, logistics, reducing life cycle
costs
Members:
Ames Lab, Cascade Asset Management, Cisco,
Critical Materials Institute, Echo Environmental, Google,
Green Electronics Council, IBM/Geodis, Idaho National Lab,
Microsoft, Momentum Technologies, Oak Ridge National Labs,
Purdue University, Seagate, Teleplan, Urban Mining
Task List and TimelineO N D J F M A M J J A S O
Task 1Task 2Task 3Task 4Task 5Task 6Task 7Task 8Task 9Task 10
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Task 1: Identify Criteria for Enabling Reuse of used, functioning HDDs and of components from
used, non-functioning HDDs
Task 2: Identify Criteria for Enabling Reuse of HDD components in HDD applications – both direct
and indirect for metal components, disks, magnetics, motors, head, PWBs etc.
Task 3: Identify Criteria for Enabling Reuse of magnets in non-HDD applications
Task 4: Develop economic and logistics estimates for cases studies identified in Tasks 1-3.
Task 5: Summarize, Review Design principles for the system for value recovery / Define
Demonstration project (based on Task 1-4 studies)
Task 6: Benchmark current reuse and recovery (direct, indirect) and barriers with stakeholder input
Task 7: Identify Leverage Points
Task 8: Identify/Map the supply chain and identify key gaps for developing a circular economy
including each value recovery pathway for HDDs
Task 9: Conduct Demonstration Projects
Task 10: Socialize and publish findings
Electronics: Common Pool Resources
Commons: A resource shared by many people who
depend on it for their livelihoods ○ In context of e-waste, there are multiple “commons”
■ the environment - creating pollution and wasting embedded
resources
■ the products themselves, their components, and retaining
value to society
Natural
• Fisheries
• Forests
• Groundwater
• Irrigation Systems
• Rivers
• Air
Man-Made
• E-waste
• Paper
• Plastic
• Food
The Tragedy of the Commons
“The Tragedy of the Commons” – Hardin (Science - 1968)
○ A few people will destroy common pool resources by operating out of
narrow self-interest for short-term gain
○ It is inevitable unless all resources are privatized or controlled by the
government
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Key Resources
• Published literature: UN Environmental Programme series, Umicore,
Graedel, Meskers, Hageluken, Stevels, Ostrom, Babbitt, Dahmus,
Gutowski, Williams, and others
Social-Ecological Framework for Self-Managing the Commons(Ostrom)
Elinor Ostrom – 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics
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We posit
Two Additional Necessary Factors for Success
Actors have shared goals for the SYSTEM as well as
individual goals for themselves that are explicitly articulated
Actors recognize that others’ individual goals are important -
so that when there are disagreements or things get “hard”, we
continue to work together to meet our shared goals
This is explicitly what we are developing in the
iNEMI Value Recovery project
Fast Turn Project –Value Recovery from Hard Disk Drives
Momentum within the community –
Seagate President
‘Hard drives from hard drives”
iNEMI Project, Seagate, and the Critical Materials Institute
(CMI) have been examining various approaches to value
recovery for HDDs:
• new technologies for removing and reusing magnets
from HDDs in new HDDs, for critical materials recovery
• economic, life cycle, and logistics analyses to examine
the viability of various scenarios for used HDDs and
other used electronics
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Phase 2 iNEMI Project –Value Recovery from Hard Disk Drives
Members in the project with a common goal
HDD Manufacturers – Seagate
HDD Users – Cisco, Google, Microsoft
Authorized After-market Service Providers – Teleplan
Recyclers and IT Asset Management Companies –Geodis/IBM,
Cascade Asset Management, Echo Environmental
Secondary Market Buyers and Sellers – connected through recyclers
Smelters and Other Materials Recovery Organizations- Momentum
Technologies, Urban Mining Corporation
After First-Market Users - consumers, data center, enterprise, cloud,
computer – connected through HDD Users + AM Service Providers
Technology Developers – research organizations (national labs,
universities, all the above) – CMI – Ames, INL, ORNL, Purdue
Standards organizations – GEC (EPEAT)14
Decision Tree for Used HDDs
End
Receive undamaged
HDD
Shred Hard Drive to
destroy data
Sell at Commodity
level
Start
Recovery decision?
Scan Model for Recovery decision into Floor Control
System
Remove Circuit card and sell as Precious Metal
No
Circuit CardPrecious Metal
Mixed Aluminum
Perform Data Wipe
Run SMART test to verify
functionality of Hard Drive
Pass SMART Test?
No
Yes
Reuse
Process for resale or
internal use
Pass Data Wipe?
No
Hard drive contain large circuit card?
Yes Hard DriveBlank
Yes
Scrap
Segregate and process for White Label
SaleWhite Label Process Only
Drive?No
Yes
Four value recovery options:• Resell as OEM labelled HDD
• Resell as “white-label” HDD
• Manually remove circuit boards and sell for $7-$9/lb
for Au, Pd, Cu recovery
• Sell for mixed Al scrap at $0.25/lb as shred or whole
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2
3
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New technologies
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Pre-Processing▪ Automated dismantling
▪ Automated magnet punching
▪ Shredding with separation
Magnet Powder▪ Magnet to Magnet Processing: hydrogen decrepitation of magnets
Metals Recovery▪ Super-Critical Fluid Extraction
▪ Membrane Solvent Extraction
▪ Biosorption & Bioleaching
▪ Acid-Free Dissolution and REO Recovery
▪ Electrochemical Metal and REO Recovery from Complex e-Waste
▪ Selective Sulfation of Shredded HDD Magnet Fractions
▪ Low Temperature β-diketonate Separation Processes
▪ Electrochemical Deposition of High Purity RE Metals using RTIL
Phase 2 iNEMI Project –New Technologies for Value Recovery
Techno-economic analysis
Life cycle analysis
Logistics & supply chain
Demo Project 5: from “reuse” or “shred” to “reuse, remfg, and recover”
Identify and remove barriers for switching from
“reuse” or “shred” to “reuse, remanufacture, and recover”
– Enable reuse: data wiping works (cryptoerase/NIST wipe), and
verification processes exist to minimize risk and recover highest
value
– Develop economic, logistics, and life-cycle analyses for multiple
pathways for reuse, remanufacturing, and recovery
– Demonstrate innovative pathways for value recovery –
technological, economic, environmental, risk, …
– Identify business models and relationships between supply chain
partners that create barriers
– Establish use cases of economic modeling + LCA in decision-
making
– Quantify stocks and flows of end-of-use HDDs in a global context
– “Build a circular economy model for HDDs to meet your
organization’s needs”18
Demonstration Project 5: from “reuse or shred” to “reuse and recover”
Deliverables:• Parameterized decision making models to support
building a circular economy. Parameters and process
flow diagram for current and alternatives
• Examples of customized business models for major
classes of organizations
• System dynamics model of data center HDD stocks
and flows integrated with different scenarios for
economics and LCA and mind maps to compare
practices
• Present examples of best practices for different HDD
users, large to small
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Examples: iNEMI Demonstration Projects for HDD Magnets
Dismantle HDD
• Reuse magnets in HDDs: Pull drives, recover magnets
and reuse the magnets in a new HDD
• Reuse magnets into another application - as is or after
machining to shape
• Turn recovered magnet into powder and remake into
magnet for HDDs or other applications.
Punch out magnets from HDD or separate shred
• Turn magnetic fraction into usable powder for magnet-
to-magnet processing
• Recover rare earths as oxides or metals for magnet
manufacturing20
Uniqueness of this project
This project goes beyond the theoretical:
• We have people from 15+ organization all
working on practical applications of CE concepts
• 6 month plan to actually demonstrate recapturing
and reuse of HDDs and/or their key components
and materials
• This will be the first practical work for magnet
remanufacturing for a HDD and a first step in
making a new HDD from an old HDD
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Uniqueness of this project
This project goes beyond the theoretical:
• We have 15+ organization all working on practical
applications of CE concepts
• 6 month plan to actually demonstrate recapturing
and reuse of HDDs and/or their key components
and materials
• This will be the first practical work for magnet
remanufacturing for a HDD and a first step in
making a new HDD from an old HDD
• … and then transfer this knowledge beyond
HDDs: value in the methodology for managing
other man-made “common pool” resources22
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This is explicitly how we are organized in the
iNEMI Value Recovery project
Rules of the “Game”