Abstract
We report potentiodynamic studies to characterize copper, nickel and zinc leaching solutions from electronic waste. The metals were leached using oxygen and sulfuric acid (pH = 1.5). As is known, reduction potentials are determined using thermodynamics laws, and metal recovery strategies from electronic waste are usually considered according these thermodynamic values. Pourbaix‐type diagrams are not appropriate to plan strategies in electrochemical processing. Therefore, knowledge of electrode potentials for the metal deposit/dissolution process is the basis for the selective recovery planning. For this reason, potentiodynamic studies, specifically cyclic voltammetry, are revealed as a good way to decide the best conditions for the process of electrochemical recovery of metals from electronic waste, which is also cost‐efficient and has no interference from strange ions, such as lead, in this case.
Highlights
The implementation of urban mining in recent years has been due to a concern for the environment and the scarcity of natural resources
The cyclic voltammetry were performed in 5 mM Cu + 1 mM Ni +
7, 55In the same way, the cyclic voltammetry were performed in 1 mM Ni + 1 mM Zn at a pH 54 of 10 for synthetic solutions and leaching solutions with sulfuric acid without copper
Summary
The implementation of urban mining in recent years has been due to a concern for the environment and the scarcity of natural resources This term has no specific definition, because if some authors refer to resources that can be obtained only from landfills, others include the recycling of construction debris, plastics, glass and scrap metal (electronic waste, in many cases nowadays). A recycling system cannot be spontaneously implemented with high effectiveness, so is an issue that concerns technology, planning, and economic and environmental regulation For this reason, at present, due to the increase in the stringency of recycling policies, countries such as China, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea, including the European Union and some states of the US, have
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