EP1712301A2 - Device and method for processing electronic waste - Google Patents

Abstract

The device has a container (18) to collect wire pieces (15) loosened from a textile lining (13) in an overhanging position of the lining. The lining is a circle-cylindrical superficies surface of a barrel (11) and is rotatably supported at the barrel around its axis. The lining is moved with a motor (10) and a belt (19), where an upper surface of the surface is formed by a fiber layer. The wire pieces are stuck in the upper surface. An independent claim is also included for a method of separating and extracting pieces of wire from hackled electronic scrap iron.

Description

The invention relates to an apparatus and a method for the separation and extraction of small pieces of wire from shredded electronic waste.

According to the state of the art, electronic scrap is shredded onto shredders or similar devices in order to break up the valuable substances contained therein, in particular the metals. The shredded material is processed by mechanical processes by means of classification and sorting processes so that the vast majority of metals in salable scrap quality is applied. In particular, magnetic separators, eddy current separators, density graders and also manual sorting are used. Also sorted out are coarse plastic parts, which are fed to a separate recycling. As a residue of this treatment remains a fraction with a maximum grain size of a few centimeters consisting of various plastics and small pieces of metal, the so-called RESH.

Depending on the origin of the raw material, the RESH still contains significant amounts of valuable metals, in particular copper in the form of very fine wires. This copper comes mainly from electronic coils, which were mainly used in electric motors. The wires are typically less than 0.5mm thick, about 5-30mm long, and most are still coated with the isolation paint. Dry mechanical recovery of such wires is difficult with conventional technology. The wires get caught in sieves, the electrostatic separation is prevented by the external insulation and also the density sorting is technically impracticable. Process-related problems are caused in particular by the fact that the wires in the sorting machines become matted with foam rags and textile fibers.

A known approach is that the RESH is processed in a "Verkugelungseinrichtung" (eg DE10336802A1 ). It is in this device is a kind of impact mill. The wires are compacted by the special type of stress in the Verkugelungseinrichtung to small beads, which then by means of density sorting from the RESH. Disadvantages of this method are the expenditure on equipment (balling device plus density sorters), the high energy consumption and the high degree of wear. Since the RESH contains only about 2% copper, it is generally not worthwhile to use such a complex process, in which 98% of the material is supposed to remain unchanged.

As further solution possibility was in WO95 / 03896 (LINDEMANN) proposed a device with which the wires are separated on a "bristle band". This is a conveyor belt occupied by textile bristles, which is guided over a plurality of deflection rollers. In the horizontal "upper" section of the conveyor belt, the raw material is abandoned. Subsequently, the material flow is guided over a deflection roller, wherein the bristles are spread open in a V-shape. The wires slip here in the opening acute angle between the bristles, while the coarser plastic parts lie flat on the bristle lining. On the subsequent straight band section, the bristle covering closes again and clamps the wires between the bristles. This band section is provided with a slope over which the plastic parts resting on the bristle coating slip off and are grasped separately. At a further deflection roller of the bristle coating is spread again and so releases the Kupferdrähtchen.

• Die Kupferdrähte können nur in den vergleichsweise kurzen Bandabschnitten, in denen der Borstenbelag aufgespreizt wird, zwischen die Borsten gelangen bzw. von diesen wieder freigegeben werden. Um den Aufspreizwinkel möglichst gross zu machen, müssen die Umlenkrollen einen geringen Durchmesser haben. Entsprechend kurz ist dann allerdings das Aufspreizintervall. Daher sind spezielle Zusatzvorrichtungen, wie Andruckrollen, Klopfrollen oder Vibrationseinrichtungen erforderlich. Die in der Schrift vorgeschlagenen Vibrationseinrichtengen sind jedoch wenig wirkungsvoll, da diese auf die unaufgespreizten (geraden) Bandabschnitte einwirken.
• Kunststoffteile, die nur sehr geringfügig mit den Borsten verhakt sind, rutschen nicht ab, sondern gelangen als Fehlaustrag in das Drahtkonzentrat.
• Das Band leiert aus und muss daher mit einer Spanneinrichtung versehen werden.
• Der Borstenbelag wird durch das periodische Aufspreizen und Schliessen mechanisch stark beansprucht.
• Ausser der Bandgeschwindigkeit gibt es keine elektronisch einstellbaren Parameter zur Online-Regelung des Separationsprozesses.

The disadvantages of this method are the following:

• The copper wires can pass between the bristles or be released from them again only in the comparatively short band sections in which the bristle lining is spread open. In order to make the Aufspreizwinkel as large as possible, the pulleys must have a small diameter. However, the spread interval is correspondingly short. Therefore, special additional devices such as pinch rollers, kneading rollers or vibration devices are required. However, the Vibrationseinrichtengen proposed in the document are not very effective, since they act on the unstretched (straight) band sections.
• Plastic parts, which are only very slightly hooked with the bristles, do not slip, but arrive as Fehlaustrag in the wire concentrate.
• The band is worn out and must therefore be provided with a tensioning device.
• The bristle coating is mechanically stressed by the periodic spreading and closing.
• Apart from the belt speed, there are no electronically adjustable parameters for online control of the separation process.

The invention has for its object to provide an apparatus and a method that allow copper wires to recover from RESH, wherein the disadvantages described above are avoided.

This object is achieved by the device defined in claim 1 and the method defined in claim 8.

In the inventive method for obtaining pieces of wire from shredded electronic waste, the comminuted electronic waste is loaded onto a driven, endlessly circulating transport surface in a basically known manner. The transport surface is designed such that the wire pieces can be held with this. The loaded transport surface is then guided over an inclined and then over an overhanging place. The wire pieces are held at the inclined points of the transport surface and delivered only at the overhanging points. In order to achieve the stated object, according to the invention, however, the transport surface, which forms a circular cylindrical drum shell, is rotated about its axis. This circular cylindrical transport surface passes through no deformation during rotation. It is thus avoided mechanical stress on the transport surface by repeated bending and stretching. However, so that the wire parts are held without such a deformation of the transport surface of the transport surface, its surface is formed of a fiber layer. This layer of fiber gets caught during its rotation with the pieces of wire. The fiber layer may be a felt-like, textile layer, the majority of whose fibers are parallel to the layer.

The electronic waste can be loaded either on the outside of the rotating drum shell or on the inside of the rotating drum shell. For better entanglement of the wire pieces with the fiber layer and for better solution of the wire parts of the fiber layer, the transport surface is advantageously vibrated.

• eine endlos umlaufende Transportfläche, mit welcher Drahtstücke gehalten werden können,
• ein Antriebsorgan zum Antreiben der Transportfläche,
• eine Aufgabeeinrichtung für das Beladen dieser Transportfläche mit Elektronikschrott,
• eine ersten Auffangeinrichtungen zum Auffangen von über geneigte Stellen der Transportfläche abrutschenden Teilen des Elektronikschrotts und
• eine zweiten Auffangeinrichtung unter einer überhängenden Stelle der Transportfläche zum Auffangen von sich an dieser überhängenden Stelle von der Transportfläche lösenden Drahtstücken.
  Die erfindungsgemässe Vorrichtung löst die gestellte Aufgabe dadurch, dass
• die Transportfläche die kreiszylindrische Mantelfläche einer Trommel ist, welche Trommel um ihre Achse rotierbar gelagert und mit dem Antriebsorgan antreibbar ist, und
• die zu beladende Oberfläche dieser kreiszylindrische Mantelfläche durch eine Faserschicht gebildet ist, in welcher sich die Drahtstücke verhaken können. Eine Vorrichtung mit diesen Merkmalen weist den Vorteil auf, dass die Faserschicht während dem Betrieb der Vorrichtung nicht verformt wird. Dadurch vermindert sich der Verschleiss der Transportfläche. Es können daher Fasern aus einem weniger biegsamen Material in der Faserschicht verwendet werden, als bei einem um Umlenkrollen zu führendem Transportband verwendet werden können. Die Faserschicht kann auch segmentweise ersetzbar ausgebildet sein.

The inventive device for obtaining pieces of wire from shredded electronic waste by utilizing gravity has the following features with one of the Common to the prior art device:

• an endlessly circulating transport surface with which pieces of wire can be held,
• a drive member for driving the transport surface,
• a loading device for loading this transport surface with electronic waste,
• a first collecting means for collecting over inclined points of the transport surface slipping parts of the electronic scrap and
• a second catching device under an overhanging position of the transport surface for catching pieces of wire which detach from the transporting surface at this overhanging point.
  The inventive device solves the problem by the fact that
• the transport surface is the circular cylindrical surface of a drum, which drum is rotatably mounted about its axis and driven by the drive member, and
• the surface of this circular cylindrical surface to be loaded is formed by a fiber layer, in which the pieces of wire can get caught. A device with these features has the advantage that the fiber layer is not deformed during operation of the device. This reduces the wear of the transport surface. It is therefore possible to use fibers of a less flexible material in the fibrous layer than can be used in a conveyor belt leading around deflection rollers. The fiber layer may also be formed segmentally replaceable.

In a first embodiment, the transport surface is the convex outer surface of the drum. In this case, the feeder is arranged to load the drum on the upper side thereof, and the second catch means is disposed under the drum to catch the pieces of wire falling from the drum.

In a second embodiment, the transport surface is the convex inner surface of the tubular drum. In this case, the axis of the drum is inclined, so that the electronic scrap in the axial direction moves through the drum. The feeder is therefore located at the upper end of the drum and introduces the electronic waste into the top of the drum. The first catcher is located at the lower end of the drum. The second catcher is disposed inside the drum and directs the metal scrap falling inside the drum into the second catcher on an inclined one Surface or with a conveyor belt from the drum and into a container.

The device is advantageously equipped with a vibration device for vibrating the drum. This serves to vibrate the transport surface. It can vibrate the drum relative to the axis or bearings of the drum, or the drum together with the axis or the bearings of the drum.

The vibration device is expediently adjustable to a frequency between 1 Hz and 1000 Hz. A preferred frequency is between 20 Hz and 200 Hz.

Although the vibration device may be designed to perform linear vibration movements, it is preferred if it can perform an elliptical vibration movement. The axis of the linear or elliptical motion is preferably perpendicular. It should expediently not deviate more than -60 ° to + 60 ° from the vertical.

The drum is conveniently connected to a drive belt with the drive member. A drive belt allows vibration of the driven axle and does not transmit it to the drive member. This drive belt should advantageously extend substantially horizontally. As a result, the vertical vibrations have no influence on the tension of the drive belt.

When loading the outer surface of the drum this can be immersed in the lower half in a liquid.

The fiber layer may conveniently consist of plastic fibers. Since the fiber layer need not be repeatedly bent and stretched again, hard, very resistant plastics, but also metal fibers and ceramic fibers can be used to form the fiber layer.

In other words, the device for obtaining pieces of wire from shredded electronic waste essentially consists of a rotating drum, which is covered on the surface with a fiber covering. This fiber coating is set up so that the friction between the pieces of wire and the fiber coating significantly larger by hooking in the fiber coating is, as the friction between the contained in the shredded electronic scrap "smooth" platy or massive particles and the fiber coating.

The drum is advantageously equipped with a vibration device. This vibration device expediently vibrates the axis of the drum. This is advantageously done linearly or elliptically along an axis between -60 ° and + 60 ° from the vertical.

A method carried out with this device for obtaining pieces of wire from shredded electronic waste is characterized in that the crushed electronic waste is applied to the outer shell of a rotating drum, wherein the outer shell of the drum consists of a fiber covering, in which the pieces of wire get caught, from which, however, the "smooth" platey or bulky components slip off.

In summary, the invention can be represented as follows: The residue from the processing of crushed electronic waste still contains 1 to 3% copper in the form of very fine pieces of wire. With the device according to the invention, a large part of this copper is recovered. As a separation feature in this case the fact is used that the wire pieces get caught in fibrous materials, while the platey or bulky other components of the shredded electronic waste do not do so. For separation, a rotating drum covered with a fiber layer is used. By vibration of the drum, the hooking of the wires is favored, while in the overhanging part of the dropping of the wires is favored. The separation takes place in that the plate-like and massive components on the flank of the drum, following gravity, slip off above the horizontal axis of the drum, but the wires are entrained by the entanglement in the fiber material into the horizontal area of the drum.

Fig. 1

eine schematische Darstellung einer ersten Ausführungsform, bei welcher der Elektroschrott auf die Aussenseite der Mantelfläche der Trommel geladen wird und in zwei separate Schrottfraktionen aufgeteilt wird,

Fig. 2

eine schematische Darstellung einer verfeinerten Variante der ersten Ausführungsform, bei der drei Schrottfraktionen separiert werden,

Fig. 3

eine schematische Darstellung einer Variante der ersten Ausführungsform, bei welcher die Mantelfläche der Trommel durch eine Flüssigkeit hindurch geführt wird,

Fig. 4

eine grafische Darstellung der Resultate einer Versuchsanordnung mit einer Vorrichtung gemäss Fig. 1,

Fig. 5

eine schematische Darstellung einer zweiten Ausführungsform, bei welcher der Elektroschrott auf die Innenseite der Mantelfläche der Trommel geladen wird,

Fig. 6

eine schematische Darstellung eines Vertikalschnitts durch die Drehachse der zweiten Ausführungsform.

The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawing. It shows:

Fig. 1

a schematic representation of a first embodiment in which the electronic waste is loaded on the outside of the lateral surface of the drum and is divided into two separate scrap fractions,

Fig. 2

1 is a schematic representation of a refined variant of the first embodiment, in which three scrap fractions are separated,

Fig. 3

a schematic representation of a variant of the first embodiment, in which the lateral surface of the drum is passed through a liquid,

Fig. 4

a graphical representation of the results of a test arrangement with a device according to FIG. 1,

Fig. 5

a schematic representation of a second embodiment in which the electronic waste is loaded on the inside of the lateral surface of the drum,

Fig. 6

a schematic representation of a vertical section through the axis of rotation of the second embodiment.

A first exemplary embodiment of the device is outlined in FIG. This device consists essentially of a covered with a textile covering 13 rotating drum 11, the axis 12 vibrates. For the drive, a motor 10 is present. The axis 12 of the drum 11 is connected via a drive belt to the engine. A chute 14 for supplying the electronic scrap 1 is adjacent to the top of the drum to this. The design of the chute 14 with a finger sieve open in the direction of the drum is advantageous. Through this, the elongated, unhooked wires 15 trickle first on the pad 13 and the plate-like plastic parts 16 and the entangled with foams and other fibrous materials wires only then slide onto the pad.

Beneath the drum are two containers 17 and 18 for receiving two different fractions 21,23 falling from the drum. The two containers are separated from each other. The separation is approximately in a vertical tangential plane to the drum. The container 18 located below the drum receives the copper-enriched concentrate 21. The container 17 located next to the drum receives the slipping off of the drum parts forming a depleted copper 23 residue.

The textile covering 13 is set up so that the finest wires 15 get caught in it under the action of gravity and are released by gravity only at overhanging points of the textile covering. This effect is amplified by the vibration.

The textile covering may be a V-shaped spread bristle covering. However, a synthetic felt has proven to be particularly effective. Although the finest wires at the lower end are initially only insufficiently discharged from this, however, the wires become matted with the covering and with other wires in such a way that they entangle further wires support. Over time, a balance is established between the interlocking and the falling wires. In this way, a part of the lining surface is formed by very fine wires, which have the same effect on the separation success as the original textile felt. This is even protected by the building up and constantly renewing wire felt from wear.

The fiber coating can be made in the form of prefabricated circular cylinder segments and mounted in sections. In this way, worn or damaged segments can be easily replaced. As an alternative to the textile fiber coating, it is also possible to use a coating of metallic fibers. Likewise, a covering made of ceramic fibers can be used.

In FIGURE 2, another exemplary variant of the same embodiment of the invention is outlined. Here, the RESH is separated into three fractions, namely a copper-enriched concentrate 21, a middle 22, and a copper depleted residue 23. The middle, which consists of wires that are still connected to plastic parts, is returned to the crushing plant 24.

Another preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. Here the lower part of the drum 11 passes through a liquid, e.g. Water 31. In this way, the fiber coating 13 is cleaned, possibly supported by a spray bar 32nd

These devices are operated as follows: It has proven to be particularly effective to give up the feed material just before the vertex of the drum. Thereby, a separate separating device can be saved in the task chute, because the drum pulls only the material from the chute, which is in direct contact with the fiber tension. In this way, the material is automatically separated.

In the first embodiment of the invention shown in three examples, the RESH of this knowledge is given up in the vicinity of the vertex of the drum 11 via a chute 14. By the vibration, the wires 15 get caught in the textile covering 13 while the plate-like plastic parts 16 lie flat on the covering. On the right flank of the drum, the plastic parts 16 begin to slip, fall off the drum from and enter the container 17 with the metal-depleted residue. The wires, however, are easily hooked to the fiber coating and are therefore dropped only in the lower, overhanging part of the drum 11. So they get into the container 18 with the copper concentrate. The drive of the drum via an external motor 10 by means of drive belt 19th

The vibration takes place in the embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 1 linearly in the vertical direction. In other embodiments of the invention, circular or elliptical oscillators are used.

In the method for separating and extracting pieces of wire from electronic waste, therefore, not only the conveying speed but also the amplitude, the frequency and the direction of the vibration can be electronically controlled. In this way, the device can be procedurally optimized and readjusted this optimum in the ongoing process with changing material composition.

In one embodiment of the invention, the operating parameters of the device are changed over time. In this case, the drum can be operated for a certain period of time completely without vibration and be cleaned only periodically by means of the vibration.

A laboratory device of the device according to the invention according to FIG. 1 was manufactured and operated with RESH samples. The raw material 1 contained 1.25% copper in the form of very fine wires 15 and tangles. The remainder consisted of non-metallic parts 16, in particular massive and platy plastic parts and foam particles. The results of an experiment are shown in FIG.

The pair of columns A shows the percentage mass fractions of the sorting products copper concentrate 21 and residue 23 on the RESH mass 1. The pair of columns B shows the percentage mass fraction of the copper based on the mass of the sorting products (copper concentrations). Column pair C shows the percentage by mass of copper in the sorting products, based on the mass of copper in the RESH (copper freights).

It has been shown that with the device about 10% of the RESH mass 1 as copper concentrate 21 and 90% were applied as residue 23 (column pair A). The copper concentrate 21 contained about 8% copper 15 (column pair B). This meant that around 70% of the total copper contained in RESH 1 had been applied in copper concentrate 21 (column pair C). The copper-depleted residue 23 (90% of the total, column pair A) contained only about 0.5% copper (column pair B), which corresponds to about 30% of the copper contained in the RESH (column pair C).

FIGS. 5 and 6 show a second embodiment of the device according to the invention. This likewise has a drum 41 provided with a fiber covering 13.

The drum is open at both ends so that it is tubular. The axis of the drum 41 is inclined.

In this embodiment, the fiber covering is mounted on the inside of the drum shell, and the electronic scrap 1 to be fractionated is guided into the interior of the drum 41 via the feed device 42 which extends into the top of the drum 41. This feeder can also end in an open in the withdrawal direction of the drum finger sieve. The drum 41 can be driven by a motor 10 via a drive belt 19. It is expediently also provided with a (not shown) vibrator. In the axial direction through the interior of the drum passes a catcher 44 for the copper-enriched fraction 21 and a catcher 45 for a middle fraction 22, which consists of fragments of moderate parts that can get caught in the fiber ply 13 so that they are indeed over a portion of the drum 41 are taken, but due to their weight and the insufficient entanglement early release again from the surface. These collecting means are led out of the bottom of the drum and inclined towards containers for receiving these two fractions 21, 22. These containers are ready under the end of these collection devices. Below the end of the drum is a container 17 for receiving the residue 23 ready, which consists mainly of the massier parts 16. Die Behälter 17 sind in der oberen Bereich des Trommeles 23 angeordnet.

In this device, the material to be separated, the electronic waste 1, is placed on the feeder 42. It slips on this into the interior of the drum 42 and optionally passes through a finger screen on the fiber layer 13 in the interior of the drum 42nd

On the fiber layer 13, which rotates with the drum, the fragments are taken so far with them until they slip on the fiber covering 13 or tumble back to the lower vertex line of the drum 42. In this case, the fragments 16 get closer and closer to the lower end of the drum 42 and finally fall out of the drum in the container 17. The wire pieces 15, however, get caught in this intensive contact with the moving drum 42 in the fiber layer 13 and from this on the collecting devices Carried up 44.45. In the overhanging region of the fiber covering 13, the wire pieces 15 are released and fall into the collecting device 44, which directs them out of the drum into the container 18.

Also in this device, a secondary felt of wire pieces forms on the fiber layer. This secondary felt protects the fiber coating. To assist the detachment of the wire pieces, a nozzle bar 32 may be provided, as shown in FIG. The nozzle bar 32 can be operated as a spray bar with a liquid. Alternatively, it can also be operated with compressed air. It can further be provided that the drum and the fiber coating are permeable and the compressed air is pressed in the direction of the collecting device through the fiber coating 13 therethrough.

As an adhesive covering commercial needle felt carpet tiles were used in different quality at a first experimental plant, which was constructed according to FIG. 1. Fiberboards may also be made from other loop fabrics such as Velcro®, terry, 3D knitted fabrics, knitted, woven, embroidered or "non-woven" textiles. Essential to these felt coverings is that they have fibers on their surface which form loops in which the wires can get caught. The fiber coating is advantageously matched to the specific properties of a particular RESH.

The finger sieve of the feed chute of the experimental plant had fingers of 55 mm length. These fingers were 4mm wide and spaced 8mm apart. The dimensioning of the finger sieve is advantageously matched to the properties of the RESH.

For a drum of 400 mm diameter, reasonable results were obtained with a fiber pad made of needle punch carpet plates and the mentioned finger screen, if the Drum turned at 3 to 4.5 revolutions per minute. The roller drive had a frequency of 3 Hz at a speed of 3.2 rpm of the roller. The drum was vibrated at 50 Hz. The result was an amplitude of 0.2 mm. This vibration frequency and the amplitude could be changed by a frequency converter and by adjusting the weight of the flywheel.

Claims (11)

Apparatus for obtaining pieces of wire (15) from shredded electronic scrap by utilizing gravity, with - An endlessly circulating transport surface (13) with which pieces of wire (15) can be held, a drive member (10) for driving the transport surface (13), a loading device (14, 42) for loading this transport surface with electronic scrap, - A first collecting means (17) for collecting over inclined points of the transport surface slipping parts of the electronic scrap and a second collecting device (18, 44) under an overhanging position of the transport surface for catching pieces of wire (15) which detach from the transport surface (13) at this overhanging point, characterized, - That the transport surface (13) is the circular cylindrical surface of a drum (11,41), which drum mounted rotatably about its axis and with the drive member (10,19) is driven, and - That the surface to be loaded (13) of this circular cylindrical surface is formed by a fiber layer (13) in which the wire pieces (15) can get caught. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the transport surface (13) is the convex outer surface of the drum (11), the loading device (14) loads the drum on its upper side and the second catch means (18) is arranged under the drum. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the transport surface (13) is the convex inner surface of the tubular drum (41), the axis of the drum (41) is inclined, the feeder (42) at the upper end of the drum the electronic waste into the drum (41), the first catching device (17) is arranged at the lower end of the drum and the second catching device (44) is arranged inside the drum (41) is arranged. Device according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized by a vibration device for vibrating the drum (11,41). Apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that the vibration device is adjustable to a frequency between 1 Hz and 1000 Hz, preferably to a frequency between 20 Hz and 200 Hz. Device according to one of claims 2 and 4 to 5, characterized in that the drum is immersed in the lower half in a liquid (31). Device according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the fiber layer (13) consists of plastic fibers or metal fiber or ceramic fibers. Method for obtaining pieces of wire (15) from shredded electronic scrap in which the shredded electronic scrap is loaded onto a driven, endlessly circulating transport surface (13) with which pieces of wire can be held,
the loaded transport surface (13) is first guided over inclined and then overhanging points, wherein the wire pieces (15) are held at the inclined points of the transport surface (13) and are delivered only at the overhanging points,
characterized, - That the transport surface (13) is a circular cylindrical surface of a drum (11,41) and is rotated about its axis, and - That the formed of a fibrous layer (13) surface of the transport surface hooked during its rotation with the wire pieces (15). A method according to claim 8, characterized in that the electronic waste is applied to the outside of the rotating drum shell. Method according to one of claims 8 to 9, characterized in that the Transport surface (13) is vibrated, preferably linearly and vertically vibrated. A method according to claim 10, characterized in that the transport surface (13) is vibrated at a frequency between 1 Hz and 1000 Hz, preferably with a frequency between 20 Hz and 200 Hz.

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