A preliminary study of the concentration of special purpose elements and precious metals in the enriched precipitates produced by a wet method of cathode-ray tube recycling

Abstract

The purpose of the work is to investigate the existence and the possibility of recovering economically interesting elements, such as precious metals and rare earth elements, from phosphor layers of cathode ray tube wastes. Therefore, a series of analyses took place in the precipitation material that resulted from the disassembling and wet processing of the cathode-ray tube screens. An applied recycling method, that mechanically with water enriches precipitates of cathode ray tube glass (wet cathode ray tube recycling method), is hosted in a small-medium recycling company. Identification of the amorphous and crystalline phases in combination with the micro-structural characterization and the chemical, major, and trace-element analysis were performed in waste materials as well as in the precipitate that resulted from the wet cathode-ray tube recycling process. Important quantities of zirconium, yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, and gold appear in the precipitate. Conclusively, a hydraulic classification enrichment method should be, furthermore, examined.