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

7

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”