Patent ID: 6896807

Claim:
A method for the recovery of components of disposed capacitors for recycling, said components include insoluble metallic and nonmetallic materials impregnated with an electrolyte system composed of an electrolyte salt dissolved in an aprotic dielectric solvent, all the components being encased within an outer housing structure of metal, said method comprising the steps of: (a) disintegrating a plurality of said capacitors and forming an aqueous slurry of insoluble metal fragments containing an electrolyte salt and a solvent; (b) separating the metal components from the aqueous slurry; (c) filtering the slurry from step (b) to form a filter cake of non-metallic particles and an aqueous filtrate containing electrolyte salts; (d) treating the filtrate from step (c) in a stripping/distillation apparatus to separate and recover residual solvent and to yield a concentrated solution of an electrolyte salt; and then (e) crystallizing and separating the electrolyte salt.