Toyota unveils innovative copper recycling technology

TOKYO (Scrap Monster): Japanese Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) has unveiled a new technology that converts the copper contained in wiring harnesses into 99.96% pure copper. The first-of-its-kind revolutionary technology was developed by a collaboration of several companies including Yazaki Corporation and Toyota Tshusho.

Until now, companies have been using techniques such as shredding, specific-gravity sorting and magnetism to extract copper from vehicle parts. Separating copper from fuse box and other electrical components has been extremely difficult. The conventional mechanical sorting techniques have proved inadequate to recycle wiring harness of end-of-life vehicles.

In 2010, TMC launched a collaborative effort in tie-up with eight dismantling companies. The series of experiments yielded result in 2011, when it produced a mechanical sorting method that eliminated minute impurities from entering into batches of recycled copper, thereby producing recycled copper with 99.96% purity. In 2013, TMC’s Honsha plant started feeding the recycled copper into wiring harness manufacturing line.

TMC aims to raise the production of recycled copper to touch 1,000 tons by 2016.

The launch of this new technology assumes great importance, especially when forecasts say that world’s copper mining resources will be depleted in 40 years. The global consumption of copper has alarmingly risen in the past two years, says data.