scholarly journals From Mineral Processing to Recycling: The Case of End-of-Life Printed Circuit Boards’ Physical Processing

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Kyriakos Syrmakezis ◽  
Konstantinos Tsakalakis ◽  
Ilias Sammas
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Economic ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Mineral Processing ◽  
Circuit Boards ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Printed Circuit ◽  
Treatment Processes ◽  
Physical Processing ◽  
Metallurgical Processes

The treatment of end-of-life printed circuit boards (EoL PCBs) presents a contemporary recycling challenge with significant environmental, economic and social dimensions. This reality has attracted interest in the development of sustainable treatment processes, founded on mineral processing and metallurgical processes. The present paper reviews the applications of mineral processes in the treatment of end-of-life printed circuit boards (magnetic, electromagnetic, gravity and flotation processes), highlighting their strengths, weaknesses and limitations in the processing of EoL PCBs.

scholarly journals Resources Recovery from Electronic Waste

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohit Arora
Keyword(s):  
Nitric Acid ◽  
Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Extraction Efficiency ◽  
Electronic Waste ◽  
Mineral Processing ◽  
Metal Recovery ◽  
Circuit Boards ◽  
Gold Extraction ◽  
Printed Circuit ◽  
Thiosulfate Leaching

Printed Circuit Boards in electronic scrap are richest source of base and precious metals, promoting economic drive for metal recovery. Recovery of these metals is a difficult exercise due to complex nature of electronic waste. India is one of the leading electronic waste processing hubs where more than 95% recyclers are unorganised/non-formal, lacking such a recovery facility. An efficient metal recovery protocol with lesser environmental impact remains unavailable to unorganised recyclers. In current study, an attempt has been made to combine various hydrometallurgical methods to achieve efficient metal recovery from Printed Circuit Boards. Mimicking mineral processing protocols for metal recovery from electronic waste has been a key feature of presented research. Printed Circuit Boards of personal computers were reduced to a size ≤ 2.5 mm and were used as sample for metal recovery. Copper and silver were extracted by selective leaching using Nitric Acid. Maximum extraction efficiency of 96.8% and 99.9% were achieved for copper and silver respectively. Nitric Acid was extracted using solvent extraction method to minimize the environmental damage of remaining waste as well as for reuse in next leaching cycle. Electrodeposition of copper was done on copper cathode with stainless steel and lead anodes with a maximum recovery efficiency of 89.6%. For extraction and recovery of gold and silver, various techniques used in mineral processing were applied in this research. Thiosulfate leaching was chosen for gold extraction due to its proven environment friendly properties. Maximum gold extraction efficiency of 74.3% has been achieved in this work. To recover gold from pregnant solution, zinc cementation approach was used. Up to 85.9% gold was recovered with zinc cementation. Success of thiosulfate leaching and cementation confirms the validity of mineralprocessing techniques in metal recovery from electronic waste. Research in this study can serve as a backbone for potential environmentally sound technology towards efficient metal recovery from electronic waste for small and medium scale recyclers.

scholarly journals Bioleaching of End-of-Life Printed Circuit Boards: Mathematical Modeling and Kinetic Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (11) ◽  
pp. 4261-4268
Author(s):  
Alessandro Becci ◽  
Alessia Amato ◽  
José M. Rodríguez-Maroto ◽  
Francesca Beolchini
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Modeling ◽  
Kinetic Analysis ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Circuit Boards ◽  
Printed Circuit
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document