Recovery of valuable metals from electronic and galvanic industrial wastes by leaching and electrowinning

Abstract

In the present paper, a study on laboratory scale to perform a treatment for valuable metals recovery from electronic and galvanic industrial wastes, is reported. The characterisation of the waste, performed by XRD, SEM, EDX and chemical analysis, showed a high metals content in the sludge, such as Cu, Ni, Mn, Pb, Sn, W. A leaching process, coupled by electrowinning, is then proposed in order to reduce the volume of the waste material and to recover selectively valuable metals, such as Cu and Ni. During the leaching step, carried out by using H 2SO 4, several factors were investigated (acid concentration, temperature and time of treatment). The leached liquor has been successfully treated with an electrowinning process, to recover copper and nickel. The copper and nickel depositions, were performed in acid and alkaline conditions, respectively. The Faraday yield was of about 95%. The energy consumption was 2.13 and 4.43 kWh per kg of copper and nickel recovered, respectively. At the end of the process, about 94–99% of the initial content of Cu and Ni was recovered at the cathode. The experimental results obtained, showed the technical feasibility of the process.