Abstract
The efficient extraction of copper as a valuable metal from waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) is currently attracting growing interest. Here, we systematically investigated the impact of bacteria on the efficiency of copper leaching from WPCBs, and evaluated the effect of graphite on bioleaching performance. The HQ0211 bacteria culture containing Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, Ferroplasma acidiphilum, and Leptospirillum ferriphilum enhanced Cu-leaching performance in either ferric sulfate and sulfuric acid leaching, so a final leaching of up to 76.2% was recorded after 5 days. With the addition of graphite, the percentage of copper leaching could be increased to 80.5%. Single-factor experiments confirmed the compatibility of graphite with the HQ0211 culture, and identified the optimal pulp density of WPCBs, the initial pH, and the graphite content to be 2% (w/v), 1.6, and 2.5 g/L, respectively.
Highlights
The capability of bacteria in oxidizing pyrite and, dissolving its copper content was first realized in the middle of the last century, opening a window to great biohydrometallurgical opportunities [1]
We studied the leaching behavior of waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) with and without graphite addition to elucidate the reaction mechanism of bioleaching
A systematic investigation conducted to evaluate effect of bacteria graphite on waswas conducted to evaluate thethe effect of bacteria andand graphite on copper copper leaching from WPCBs
Summary
The capability of bacteria in oxidizing pyrite and, dissolving its copper content was first realized in the middle of the last century, opening a window to great biohydrometallurgical opportunities [1]. Bioleaching was found to be a viable method to leach metals from electronic waste, such as used batteries and waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) [7,8]
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