In a linear economy, the extraction, processing and disposal of precious metals result in excessive resource consumption, toxic waste. Recovering these materials from e-waste diversifies the supply chain for critical raw materials, reducing reliance on newly extracted resources. The goal was to develop an automated, integrated plant capable of transforming electronic waste into refined metals—such as gold, silver, copper, and palladium—while aligning with circular economy principles.

To realize this vision, Osai GreenTech partnered with Siemens, especially during the pandemic when component availability and energy costs were critical challenges.Key technologies and solutions implemented:

• RE4M (Recycling for Manufacturing) system: a modular plant for disassembling, separating, and sorting components from PCBs, followed by metal refining via BTT Italia.
• Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) Portal: unified platform for programming and managing HMIs, PLCs, drives, and networking devices, enabling modularity and efficiency.
• Simatic ET200 SP Energy Meter: integrated into the PLC for real-time energy consumption monitoring and CO₂ emissions tracking.
• Energy Manager app: monitors energy usage, detects anomalies, and supports predictive maintenance.
• Siemens Industrial Edge: edge computing platform for real-time data processing, energy optimization, and secure analytics, accessible from any device.