Waste printed circuit board recycling techniques and product utilization

Hadi, Pejman; Meng, Xu; Lin, Carol Sze Ki; Hui, Chi‐Wai; McKay, Gordon

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2014.09.032

Cited by 287 publications

(119 citation statements)

References 109 publications

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“…This phenomenon is due to both the rapid technological development and the requirement of higher performances to mass electronic products. Considering that, on average, each EEE embeds at least one PCB accounting for almost 3%-5% of its overall weight, WPCB expected volumes are impressive and accountable in several million tons [19]. Furthermore, PCBs are the most valuable elements embedded in EEEs [20][21][22].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These phases can be distinguished as follows: disassembly, treatment and refining [19,33]- Figure 2.…”

Section: Wpcb Recycling Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hence, a strong variance of the expected economic profitability could occur. This limit can be overtaken by implementing a sensitivity analysis on the following critical variables [19] (Tables 10 and 11):…”

Section: Sensitivity Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Growth rates are hypothesized to be equal to 3% per year [19], equally increasing for each of the four WPCB categories [17]. Table 12 proposes the expected profits coming from the correct management of these amounts of WPCBs.…”

Section: Future Trends In the European Weee Marketmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Challenges in Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Management: A Profitability Assessment in Three European Countries

2016

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Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is known as an important source of secondary raw materials. Since decades, its treatment allowed to recover great amounts of basic resources. However, the management of electronic components embedded in WEEE still presents many challenges. The purpose of the paper is to cope with some of these challenges through the definition of an economic model able to identify the presence of profitability within the recovery process of waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs). To this aim, a set of common economic indexes is used within the paper. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis on a set of critical variables is conducted to evaluate their impact on the results. Finally, the combination of predicted WEEE volumes (collected during the 2015-2030 period) in three European countries (Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom) and related economic indexes quantify the potential advantage coming from the recovery of this kind of waste in the next future.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These phases can be distinguished as follows: disassembly, treatment and refining [19,33]- Figure 2.…”

Section: Wpcb Recycling Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sensitivity Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Future Trends In the European Weee Marketmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Challenges in Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Management: A Profitability Assessment in Three European Countries

2016

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“…Although hydrometallurgical processes using various reagents (e.g., cyanide, thiosulfate, aqua regia, etc.) have shown high efficiency in metal recovery, their high cost and toxic byproducts remain to be addressed [5][6][7][8]. To solve these cost-related and environmental disadvantages, some microbiological processes have recently been proposed as alternatives to chemical methods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metal Recovery from the Mobile Phone Waste by Chemical and Biological Treatments

2018

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Abstract:Recycling electronic waste is an important subject not only from the point of view of waste treatment, but also regarding the recovery of valuable metals. This research examined the stepwise recovery of metals in mobile phone waste using chemical treatment via pH swing and the biological method using biomineralization. In chemical treatment, the metal fraction attached to the printed circuit board (PCB) and camera parts were separated from the mobile phone waste and were then pulverized into particles with a size less than~2 mm. The metal fraction was dissolved in aqua regia, and the pH of the solution was increased to 10.5 by adding NH 4 OH. The first precipitate was iron oxide, produced by raising the pH to 3.1~4.2 with NH 4 OH. Sequentially, copper chloride and rare earth-metal complex were produced at pH 5.7~7.7 and 8.3~10.5, respectively. In the biological method, the filtrate at pH 7.7 was added to a metal-reducing bacteria growth medium as a precursor. After two weeks of incubation, rhodochrosite and calcite were precipitated as nano-sized minerals. The results indicate that effective metal recovery of mobile phone waste is feasible using chemical and biological treatments, and the recovered metals and rare earth metals can be recycled into raw materials for various industries.

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