Assessment of Pre-Treatment Techniques for Coarse Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) Recycling
Waste electrical and electronic equipment or e-waste generation has been skyrocketing over the last decades. This poses waste management and value recovery challenges, especially in developing countries. Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are mainly employed in value recovery operations. Despite the high...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-10-01
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| Series: | Minerals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/11/10/1134 |
| _version_ | 1797513778275811328 |
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| author | Kai Dean Kang I. M. Saman K. Ilankoon Nimila Dushyantha Meng Nan Chong |
| author_facet | Kai Dean Kang I. M. Saman K. Ilankoon Nimila Dushyantha Meng Nan Chong |
| author_sort | Kai Dean Kang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Waste electrical and electronic equipment or e-waste generation has been skyrocketing over the last decades. This poses waste management and value recovery challenges, especially in developing countries. Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are mainly employed in value recovery operations. Despite the high energy costs of generating crushed and milled particles of the order of several microns, those are employed in conventional hydrometallurgical techniques. Coarse PCB pieces (of order a few centimetres) based value recovery operations are not reported at the industrial scale as the complexities of the internal structure of PCBs limit efficient metal and non-metal separation. Since coarse PCB particles’ pre-treatment is of paramount importance to enhance metal and non-metal separations, thermal, mechanical, chemical and electrical pre-treatment techniques were extensively studied. It is quite evident that a single pre-treatment technique does not result in complete metal liberation and therefore several pre-treatment flowsheets were formulated for coarse PCB particles. Thermal, mechanical and chemical pre-treatments integrated flowsheets were derived and such flowsheets are seldom reported in the e-waste literature. The potential flowsheets need to be assessed considering socio-techno-economic considerations to yield the best available technologies (BAT). In the wider context, the results of this work could be useful for achieving the United Nations sustainable development goals. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:21:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a6642828d48641838b85dce4eaf01d1d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-163X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:21:18Z |
| publishDate | 2021-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Minerals |
| spelling | doaj.art-a6642828d48641838b85dce4eaf01d1d2023-11-22T19:17:25ZengMDPI AGMinerals2075-163X2021-10-011110113410.3390/min11101134Assessment of Pre-Treatment Techniques for Coarse Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) RecyclingKai Dean Kang0I. M. Saman K. Ilankoon1Nimila Dushyantha2Meng Nan Chong3Discipline of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Monash University Malaysia, Subang Jaya 47500, MalaysiaDiscipline of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Monash University Malaysia, Subang Jaya 47500, MalaysiaDepartment of Earth Resources Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Moratuwa 10400, Sri LankaDiscipline of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Monash University Malaysia, Subang Jaya 47500, MalaysiaWaste electrical and electronic equipment or e-waste generation has been skyrocketing over the last decades. This poses waste management and value recovery challenges, especially in developing countries. Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are mainly employed in value recovery operations. Despite the high energy costs of generating crushed and milled particles of the order of several microns, those are employed in conventional hydrometallurgical techniques. Coarse PCB pieces (of order a few centimetres) based value recovery operations are not reported at the industrial scale as the complexities of the internal structure of PCBs limit efficient metal and non-metal separation. Since coarse PCB particles’ pre-treatment is of paramount importance to enhance metal and non-metal separations, thermal, mechanical, chemical and electrical pre-treatment techniques were extensively studied. It is quite evident that a single pre-treatment technique does not result in complete metal liberation and therefore several pre-treatment flowsheets were formulated for coarse PCB particles. Thermal, mechanical and chemical pre-treatments integrated flowsheets were derived and such flowsheets are seldom reported in the e-waste literature. The potential flowsheets need to be assessed considering socio-techno-economic considerations to yield the best available technologies (BAT). In the wider context, the results of this work could be useful for achieving the United Nations sustainable development goals.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/11/10/1134coarse particle pre-treatmente-wasteelectronic wasteprinted circuit boardspre-treatmentrecycling |
| spellingShingle | Kai Dean Kang I. M. Saman K. Ilankoon Nimila Dushyantha Meng Nan Chong Assessment of Pre-Treatment Techniques for Coarse Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) Recycling Minerals coarse particle pre-treatment e-waste electronic waste printed circuit boards pre-treatment recycling |
| title | Assessment of Pre-Treatment Techniques for Coarse Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) Recycling |
| title_full | Assessment of Pre-Treatment Techniques for Coarse Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) Recycling |
| title_fullStr | Assessment of Pre-Treatment Techniques for Coarse Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) Recycling |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessment of Pre-Treatment Techniques for Coarse Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) Recycling |
| title_short | Assessment of Pre-Treatment Techniques for Coarse Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) Recycling |
| title_sort | assessment of pre treatment techniques for coarse printed circuit boards pcbs recycling |
| topic | coarse particle pre-treatment e-waste electronic waste printed circuit boards pre-treatment recycling |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/11/10/1134 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kaideankang assessmentofpretreatmenttechniquesforcoarseprintedcircuitboardspcbsrecycling AT imsamankilankoon assessmentofpretreatmenttechniquesforcoarseprintedcircuitboardspcbsrecycling AT nimiladushyantha assessmentofpretreatmenttechniquesforcoarseprintedcircuitboardspcbsrecycling AT mengnanchong assessmentofpretreatmenttechniquesforcoarseprintedcircuitboardspcbsrecycling |