Copper Electrowinning from Supercritical Leachate of Printed Circuit Boards
The technological development propitiates the rapid replacement of electrical and electronic equipment, which makes it indispensable to develop recycling processes for the treatment of this equipment when discarded. Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are fundamental components of electrical and electroni...
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MDPI AG
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Metals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/13/2/395 |
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| author | Camila Ottonelli Calgaro Maurício Dalla Costa Rodrigues da Silva Eduardo Hiromitsu Tanabe Daniel Assumpção Bertuol |
| author_facet | Camila Ottonelli Calgaro Maurício Dalla Costa Rodrigues da Silva Eduardo Hiromitsu Tanabe Daniel Assumpção Bertuol |
| author_sort | Camila Ottonelli Calgaro |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The technological development propitiates the rapid replacement of electrical and electronic equipment, which makes it indispensable to develop recycling processes for the treatment of this equipment when discarded. Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are fundamental components of electrical and electronic equipment. PCBs are composed of ceramics, polymers, and metals. Copper is the metal that is present in the greatest percentage of mobile phone PCBs. The objective of this study was to recover copper in the form of metallic deposits from a copper solution extracted from comminuted PCBs through supercritical CO<sub>2</sub> in the presence of cosolvents (H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> and H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>). A synthetic CuSO<sub>4</sub> solution was employed to determine the ideal current density in the range of 250 to 540 A/m<sup>2</sup>. The electrowinning of the leachate solution from PCBs was performed at the determined current density. Using the current density of 250 A/m<sup>2</sup>, pH equal to 4, and temperature of 25 °C, a current efficiency of around 100% was achieved for the real solution. The deposit obtained showed a copper concentration of 95.97 wt%, recovering 40% of the copper contained in the solution in 300 min of electrowinning. It was observed that for a longer electrowinning time, the percentage of copper recovery could increase. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:25:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b88cc9afc8d84a47b7e738b786ec6909 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-4701 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:25:29Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Metals |
| spelling | doaj.art-b88cc9afc8d84a47b7e738b786ec69092023-11-16T22:08:42ZengMDPI AGMetals2075-47012023-02-0113239510.3390/met13020395Copper Electrowinning from Supercritical Leachate of Printed Circuit BoardsCamila Ottonelli Calgaro0Maurício Dalla Costa Rodrigues da Silva1Eduardo Hiromitsu Tanabe2Daniel Assumpção Bertuol3Department of Chemical Engineering, Instituto Federal Sul-Rio-Grandense (IFSul), Campus Pelotas, 455 Praça 20 de Setembro, Pelotas 96015-360, RS, BrazilEnvironmental Processes Laboratory (LAPAM), Chemical Engineering Department, Federal University of Santa Maria–UFSM, 1000 Roraima Avenue, Santa Maria 97105-900, RS, BrazilEnvironmental Processes Laboratory (LAPAM), Chemical Engineering Department, Federal University of Santa Maria–UFSM, 1000 Roraima Avenue, Santa Maria 97105-900, RS, BrazilEnvironmental Processes Laboratory (LAPAM), Chemical Engineering Department, Federal University of Santa Maria–UFSM, 1000 Roraima Avenue, Santa Maria 97105-900, RS, BrazilThe technological development propitiates the rapid replacement of electrical and electronic equipment, which makes it indispensable to develop recycling processes for the treatment of this equipment when discarded. Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are fundamental components of electrical and electronic equipment. PCBs are composed of ceramics, polymers, and metals. Copper is the metal that is present in the greatest percentage of mobile phone PCBs. The objective of this study was to recover copper in the form of metallic deposits from a copper solution extracted from comminuted PCBs through supercritical CO<sub>2</sub> in the presence of cosolvents (H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> and H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>). A synthetic CuSO<sub>4</sub> solution was employed to determine the ideal current density in the range of 250 to 540 A/m<sup>2</sup>. The electrowinning of the leachate solution from PCBs was performed at the determined current density. Using the current density of 250 A/m<sup>2</sup>, pH equal to 4, and temperature of 25 °C, a current efficiency of around 100% was achieved for the real solution. The deposit obtained showed a copper concentration of 95.97 wt%, recovering 40% of the copper contained in the solution in 300 min of electrowinning. It was observed that for a longer electrowinning time, the percentage of copper recovery could increase.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/13/2/395CO<sub>2</sub> supercriticalacid leachingPCBsmetallic copper |
| spellingShingle | Camila Ottonelli Calgaro Maurício Dalla Costa Rodrigues da Silva Eduardo Hiromitsu Tanabe Daniel Assumpção Bertuol Copper Electrowinning from Supercritical Leachate of Printed Circuit Boards Metals CO<sub>2</sub> supercritical acid leaching PCBs metallic copper |
| title | Copper Electrowinning from Supercritical Leachate of Printed Circuit Boards |
| title_full | Copper Electrowinning from Supercritical Leachate of Printed Circuit Boards |
| title_fullStr | Copper Electrowinning from Supercritical Leachate of Printed Circuit Boards |
| title_full_unstemmed | Copper Electrowinning from Supercritical Leachate of Printed Circuit Boards |
| title_short | Copper Electrowinning from Supercritical Leachate of Printed Circuit Boards |
| title_sort | copper electrowinning from supercritical leachate of printed circuit boards |
| topic | CO<sub>2</sub> supercritical acid leaching PCBs metallic copper |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/13/2/395 |
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