Printed circuit boards are used in nearly all electronic products to connect electronic components to one another. The world market for printed circuit boards exceeded $60.2 billion in 2014 and is estimated to reach $79 billion by 2024.
Printed circuit board components
A typical 0.35 kg printed circuit board consists of:
- 0.25 kg integrated circuit
- 0.01 kg capacitor
- 0.005 kg electric connector
- 0.005 kg inductor
- 0.003 kg resistor
- 0.002 kg transformer
- 0.001 kg transistor
- 0.0005 kg glass diode
- 0.0001 kg light emitting diode (LED)
Translation into material stocks
More than 30 per cent of the weight of waste printed circuit boards consists of metals, including roughly:
- copper: 16 per cent
- tin: 4 per cent
- iron: 3 per cent
- nickel: 2 per cent
- zinc: 1 per cent
- gold: 0.039 per cent
- silver: 0.156 per cent
- palladium: 0.009 per cent