Maximize Metal Recovery with Advanced Recycling Equipment: From Batteries to Circuit Boards

Electronic waste is piling up faster than ever. Landfills are overflowing with discarded batteries, old circuit boards, and scrap cables that still contain valuable metals like copper, lead, and aluminum. For business owners looking to enter this market—or expand an existing operation—the right recycling equipment makes the difference between a struggling startup and a profitable plant.

Used lead-acid batteries remain one of the most recycled products globally, yet many regions still ship them overseas instead of processing locally. A well-designed lead acid battery recycling equipment line can break batteries apart and separate them into four saleable fractions: lead paste, lead grid, plastic casing, and acid. San Lan Technologies builds complete plants handling 1 to 10 MT per hour, pairing breaking and separation systems with de-sulfurization units, rotary furnaces for paste reduction, and lead refinery kettles that reach 99.999% purity. Lead recovery rates hit 95%, and electric heating options using near-infrared technology cut energy use by 30-50% compared to conventional fuel-fired systems.

Old printed circuit boards pack more copper per ton than many natural ores, plus trace amounts of precious metals. San Lan's circuit board recycling equipment handles this material through both dry and wet routes. The WCBD series relies on air separation combined with pulse bag dust collectors to produce copper powder at 96-98% purity. For larger volumes, wet separation plants like the WCB-2000C process up to 2000 kg per hour. Both approaches capture copper and precious metals while keeping dust emissions under control.

Scrap cable is everywhere—demolition sites, utility upgrades, manufacturing scrap—and the copper inside is too valuable to waste. Manual stripping is slow and hazardous, which is why automated cable recycling equipment pays for itself quickly. San Lan's cable granulators and strippers pull copper or aluminum away from plastic insulation in one continuous flow. The WCD-200C compact granulator suits smaller yards, while the WCD-1200S handles heavier throughputs. Even specialized jelly-filled cables can be processed using the WCW-500J plant.

Once the core streams are running, many operators branch into lithium-ion batteries, CRT monitors, refrigerators, electric motors, and fluorescent lamps. San Lan manufactures equipment for all of these sectors, so you can add capacity without switching suppliers. The lithium battery recycling line, for example, breaks and separates waste Li-ion cells to recover black mass, plastic, copper, and aluminum at rates from 500 to 2500 kg per hour.

San Lan Technologies has been building recycling machinery since 2007 from its base in Jiangxi Province, China. The engineering team holds master's degrees in mechanical engineering and brings over 15 years of hands-on experience in e-waste processing. The company does not just ship containers of machines; it manages full EPC projects covering custom design, installation, commissioning, and training. With installations in over 21 countries—from Singapore and Colombia to South Africa and Mexico—San Lan has seen nearly every operational challenge and knows how to solve it. They will even help you source feedstock and find buyers for your recovered copper, lead, and aluminum.