scholarly journals Determining Metal Content in Waste Printed Circuit Boards and their Electronic Components

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 590-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Anić Vučinić ◽  
Gordan Bedeković ◽  
Renato Šarc ◽  
Vitomir Premur
Keyword(s):  
Metal Content ◽  
Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Circuit Boards ◽  
Electronic Components ◽  
Printed Circuit ◽  
Waste Printed Circuit Boards

scholarly journals Dismantling of Waste Printed Circuit Boards with the Simultaneous Recovery of Copper: Experimental Study and Process Modeling

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (18) ◽  
pp. 5186
Author(s):  
Szabolcs Fogarasi ◽  
Árpád Imre-Lucaci ◽  
Florica Imre-Lucaci
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Electrochemical Process ◽  
Circuit Boards ◽  
Electronic Components ◽  
Printed Circuit ◽  
Waste Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Leaching Solution ◽  
The Impact

The study was carried out with the aim to demonstrate the applicability of a combined chemical–electrochemical process for the dismantling of waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) created from different types of electronic equipment. The concept implies a simple and less polluting process that allows the chemical dismantling of WPCBs with the simultaneous recovery of copper from the leaching solution and the regeneration of the leaching agent. In order to assess the performance of the dismantling process, various tests were performed on different types of WPCBs using the 0.3 M FeCl3 in 0.5 M HCl leaching system. The experimental results show that, through the leaching process, the electronic components (EC) together with other fractions can be efficiently dismounted from the surface of WPCBs, with the parallel electrowinning of copper from the copper rich leaching solution. In addition, the process was scaled up for the dismantling of 100 kg/h WPCBs and modeled and simulated using process flow modelling software ChemCAD in order to assess the impact of all steps and equipment on the technical and environmental performance of the overall process. According to the results, the dismantling of 1 kg of WPCBs requires a total energy of 0.48 kWh, and the process can be performed with an overall low environmental impact based on the obtained general environmental indexes (GEIs) values.

scholarly journals Extraction of Selected Metals from Waste Printed Circuit Boards by Bioleaching Acidophilic Bacteria

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna HOŁDA ◽  
Aldona KRAWCZYKOWSKA
Keyword(s):  
Metal Content ◽  
Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Electronic Devices ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Technological Innovations ◽  
Secondary Source ◽  
Circuit Boards ◽  
Printed Circuit ◽  
Acidophilic Bacteria ◽  
Waste Printed Circuit Boards

Technological innovations and increased demand for electronic devices resulted in production of more and more waste with highmetal content. Worldwide, 50 million tons of WEEE (Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment) are generated each year. Giventhe metal content present in electrical waste (e-waste), it is considered to be an urban mine and, if properly treated, can serve as analternative secondary source of metals. Waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) that constitute approx. 3-5% of WEEE by weight areof particular importance. They contain, on average, 30-40% of metals by weight, with higher purity than in minerals. With environmental and economic benefits in mind, increasing attention is being paid to the development of processes to recover metals and othervaluable materials from WPCBs. The research presented in the article aimed at assessing the usefulness of the biotechnological methodfor leaching of selected metals from e-waste. The results indicate that it is possible to mobilize metals from WPCBs using microorganisms such as Acidithiobacillus ferroxidans bacteria 

Study on Wet Treatment Process of Waste Printed Circuit Boards

2012 ◽  
Vol 518-523 ◽  
pp. 3621-3626
Author(s):  
Cai Bin Wu ◽  
Gui Ming Shi ◽  
Cui Ping Yan
Keyword(s):  
Metal Content ◽  
Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Treatment Process ◽  
Shaking Table ◽  
Circuit Boards ◽  
Total Metal Content ◽  
Printed Circuit ◽  
Waste Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Total Metal ◽  
Comminution Process

The dry crushing of wasted printed circuit boards (PCBs) can make secondary contamination. In this paper, a wet comminution process is put forward to solve the difficulties. For the comminution product, the distributions of particle size, liberation degree and metal grade are analyzed, and for the product below 1mm, a wet metal beneficiation process combined with shaking table and flotation is employed. The results show that the Whole PCBs could be comminuted by the MX wet impact crusher, and the cumulative yield, liberation degree, total metal content and its copper grade of the product below 1mm is 83.49%, 97%, 83.46% and 20.50%respectively, and that metal concentrates could be beneficiated by XZY wet shaking table, and the yield, total metal weight, copper grade of the metal concentrate, the recovery of total metal and copper is 34.87%, 88.99%, 50.73%,79.90% and 78.07% respectively keeping the feeding concentration at 20% and water consumption in 1100L/h. For these metals included by shaking-table middling, the separation of both flotation and shaking table is carried out, and the total metal content and its copper grade, recovery in metal concentrate 2′ is 72.07% , 31.59% and62.04% respectively, meanwhile the copper grade of tailings in flotation and shaking table are decreased to 1.26% and 2.94%. The wet treatment process can effectively concentrate these valuable metals from waste PCBs.

scholarly journals Disassembly of waste printed circuit boards using air heating and centrifugal force

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Ricardo Soares Rubin ◽  
Marco Aurélio Soares de Castro ◽  
Dennis Brandão
Keyword(s):  
Centrifugal Force ◽  
Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Power Supplies ◽  
Circuit Boards ◽  
Electronic Components ◽  
Printed Circuit ◽  
Waste Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Hot Air ◽  
Air Heating ◽  
Plastic Parts

Waste electrical and electronic equipment is a significant source of material that can contribute to reduce environmental impacts associated to extraction and discard stages; therefore, it is necessary to develop efficient recycling processes for components such as Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). Current methods for PCB recycling may be optimized by previous disassembly of such components. In the work reported here, an especially designed and manufactured centrifuge was employed to disassemble PCBs from power supplies (PS-PCBs) and memory chips (ME-PCBs) of personal computers (PCs), through combination of hot air flow and centrifugal force. The results showed that the device was capable of separating tin solder, electronic components (EC) and PCB substrate, as long as hazardous components and plastic parts are previously removed. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) with combined energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analyzer showed that the recovered solder had under 3%wt of contamination; therefore, it can be employed in the production of new soldering material, replacing the more commonly used solder dross. EC recovery rates were up to 94%wt for PS-PCBs and 32%wt for ME-PCBs, and once components such as inductors were not visibly damaged in the process, possibilities of reusing recovered components may be further investigated.

scholarly journals Dismantling of Printed Circuit Boards Enabling Electronic Components Sorting and Their Subsequent Treatment Open Improved Elemental Sustainability Opportunities

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 10357
Author(s):  
Ange A. Maurice ◽  
Khang Ngoc Dinh ◽  
Nicolas M. Charpentier ◽  
Andrea Brambilla ◽  
Jean-Christophe P. Gabriel
Keyword(s):  
Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Chemical Elements ◽  
Subsequent Treatment ◽  
Circuit Boards ◽  
Electronic Components ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
Printed Circuit ◽  
Waste Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Processing Wastes ◽  
Review State

This critical review focuses on advanced recycling strategies to enable or increase recovery of chemical elements present in waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs). Conventional recycling involves manual removal of high value electronic components (ECs), followed by raw crushing of WPCBs, to recover main elements (by weight or value). All other elements remain unrecovered and end up highly diluted in post-processing wastes or ashes. To retrieve these elements, it is necessary to enrich the waste streams, which requires a change of paradigm in WPCB treatment: the disassembly of WPCBs combined with the sorting of ECs. This allows ECs to be separated by composition and to drastically increase chemical element concentration, thus making their recovery economically viable. In this report, we critically review state-of-the-art processes that dismantle and sort ECs, including some unpublished foresight from our laboratory work, which could be implemented in a recycling plant. We then identify research, business opportunities and associated advanced retrieval methods for those elements that can therefore be recovered, such as refractory metals (Ta, Nb, W, Mo), gallium, or lanthanides, or those, such as the platinum group elements, that can be recovered in a more environmentally friendly way than pyrometallurgy. The recovery methods can be directly tuned and adapted to the corresponding stream.

scholarly journals Evaluation of US EPA Method 3052 Microwave Acid Digestion for Quantification of Majority Metals in Waste Printed Circuit Boards

Metals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1511
Author(s):  
Dagmar Remeteiová ◽  
Silvia Ružičková ◽  
Vladislava Mičková ◽  
Martina Laubertová ◽  
Róberta Slezáková
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Metal Content ◽  
Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Standard Procedure ◽  
Circuit Boards ◽  
Acid Digestion ◽  
Printed Circuit ◽  
Waste Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Metal Recycling ◽  
Us Epa

Metal content determination is one of the critical aspects of preparing electronic waste for metal recycling. In spite of the fact that end-of-life printed circuit boards are considered to be a secondary resource reservoir, no standard procedure exists for determining the total metal content in this heterogeneous multicomponent material containing plastics, metals, alloys and ceramics. We investigated the utilization of United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) microwave acid digestion (Method 3052) and various modifications of this procedure for effective releasing of Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn from waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) from mobile phones. The maximum contents of Cu (22.6 wt.%), Fe (5.0 wt.%), Ni (2.0 wt.%) and Zn (2.6 wt.%) were obtained using the standard (unmodified) US EPA 3052 digestion procedure, but the total digestion of PCB material was not achieved. The solid residue material after digestion by means of the US EPA 3052 method consisted predominantly of oxides (Ca, Mg and Al) and fluorides (Ca and Mg), and some particles contained minor amounts of Fe and Cu.

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