Abstract
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.
Highlights
According to the literature data, in the period 2016–2030, the quantity of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEEs) will increase at world level from 44.7 million tonnes to 110 million tonnes [1,2,3,4]
One of the major issues that needs to be solved regarding the recycling of Waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) is related to its dismantling into different material fractions that can be further processed into value added products [20,21]
Some studies so far conducted to WPCBs dismantling involve the thermal processing of WPCBs, but this operation is not eco-friendly because it occurs with the release of toxic gases [22], high energy consumption, and the burning of components that could be reused [23,24]
Summary
According to the literature data, in the period 2016–2030, the quantity of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEEs) will increase at world level from 44.7 million tonnes to 110 million tonnes [1,2,3,4]. Waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) represents an important part of WEEEs (3–5 wt.%) with more than 30% metals (of which ~30% copper) and 70% non-metals [6,7,8]. For this reason, the recycling of WPCBs can constitute a potential secondary source of raw materials for different industrial sectors [9], contributing to preservation of natural resources [10,11,12]. Some studies so far conducted to WPCBs dismantling involve the thermal processing of WPCBs, but this operation is not eco-friendly because it occurs with the release of toxic gases [22], high energy consumption, and the burning of components that could be reused [23,24]
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