• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.186-198
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• 2022

Heavy metals recovery from Printed Circuit Boards industrial wastewater is crucial because of its cost effectiveness and environmental friendliness. In this study, a copper recovery route combining the sequential processes of acid leaching and LIX 984N extracting with an electrowinning technique from Printed Circuit Boards production's sludge was performed. The used residual sludge was originated from Hanoi Urban Environment One Member Limited Company (URENCO). The extracted solution from the printed circuit boards waste sludge containing a high copper concentration of 19.2 g/L and a small amount of iron (0.575 ppm) was used as electrolyte for the subsequent electrolysis process. By using a simulation model for multi-step current electrolysis, the reasonable current densities for an electrolysis time interval of 30 minutes were determined, to optimize the specific consumption energy for the copper recovery. The mathematical simulation model was built to calculate the important parameters of this process.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.245-251
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• 2015

The main objective of this study is to recovery valuable metals with metal particle size distributions in waste cell phone PCBs(Printed Circuit Boards) by means of pulverization and nitric acid process. The particle size classifier also was evaluated by specific metal contents. The PCBs were pulverized by a fine pulverizer. The particle sizes were classified by 5 different sizes which were PcS1(0.2 mm below), PcS2(0.20~0.51 mm), PcS3(0.51~1.09 mm), PcS4(1.09~2.00 mm) and PcS5(2.00 mm above). Non-magnetic metals in the grinding particles were separated by a hand magnetic. And then, Cu, Co and Ni were separated by 3M nitric acid. Particle diameter of PCBs were 0.388~0.402 mm after the fine pulverizer. The sorting coefficient were 0.403~0.481. The highest metal content in PcS1. And the bigger particle diameter, the lower the valuable metals exist. The recovery rate of the valuable metals increases in smaller particle diameter with same leaching conditions. For further work, it could improve to recovery of the valuable metals effectively by means of individual treatment, multistage leaching and different leaching solvents.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.193-197
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• 2001

This study was carried out to recover gold, silver and other valuable metals from the printed circuit boards (PCB) of waste computers. PCB samples were crushed to under 1mm by a shredder and initially separated into 30% conducting and 70% non-conducting materials by an electrostatic separator. The conducting materials, which contained the valuable metals, were then used as the feed material for magnetic separation where it was found that 42% was magnetic and 58% non- magnetic. The non-magnetic materials contained 0.227mg/g Au and 0.697mg/g Ag. Further leaching of the non-magnetic component using 2.0M sulfuric acid and 0.2M hydrogen peroxide at 85$^{\circ}C$ extracted more than 95% copper, iron, zinc, nickel and aluminium. Au and Ag were not extracted in this solution, however, more than 95% of Au and 100% of Ag were selectively leached with a mixed solvent (0.2M ammonium thiosulfate, 0.02M copper sulfate, 0.4M ammonium hydroxide). Finally, the residues were reacted with a NaCl solution to leach out Pb while sulfuric acid was used to leach out Sn. Recoveries reached 95% and 98% in solution, respectively.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.24-30
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• 2021

Dismantling tests were performed to separate components from waste printed circuit boards (PCBs) using HCl solution with Sn4+. Then, the effects of agitation speed, reaction temperature, initial Sn4+ concentration, and HCl concentration on the dismantling of components were investigated. No significant effect on the dismantling speed was observed upon changing the agitation speed from 100 to 300 rpm. However, the dismantling rate increased with increasing reaction temperature, Sn4+ concentration, and HCl concentration. In the all-component dismantling tests, when the dismantling ratio increased to 100%, no solder was observed on the boards, and the Sn4+ concentration was ~1,500 mg/L. The dismantling ratio of the components from the PCB increased to 100% within 2 h when 1 mol/L HCl solution with 10,000 mg/L Sn4+ was used at an agitation speed and temperature of 200 rpm and 90 ℃, respectively.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.894-899
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• 2012

In recent years, recycling process has come to be necessary for separating metals, glass fibers and polymer from WPCBs (waste printed circuit boards) due to an increasing amount of electronic device waste. In this study, dimethylformamide (DMF) and attrition mill reactor were used to separate the component such as metals, glass fiber and epoxy resin from WPCBs. Separation of glass fiber from WPCBs was carried out under stirring rates 300~600 revolution per minute (rpm) for 1~2 h as the various agitator. The recycled glass fibers (RGF) were analyzed by thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) for degree of separation of epoxy resin in the WPCBs. The degree of separation of epoxy resin of WPCBs increased in attrition mill agitator as a mechanochemical process for recycling WPCBs. The RGF separated in the WPCBs was applied as a reinforcement in the RGF/unsaturated polyester composites to reuse as a reinforcement.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.76-80
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• 2015

Mobile phone has become one of the essential items in our daily life. In Korea, it is estimated that more than 20 million cell phones are discarded each year due to advancement in technology, thus creating disposal and environmental pollution. In order to conserve the resources, their proper recycling is essential as it contains both valuable and toxic metals. The economics of the recycling will depend on the amount and value of the metals. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the composition of the metals present in the different cell phones. In the present study, a report is presented on the variation of metal content per year of waste mobile phones. A review has been made for the mobile phones manufactured during the period 2000-2009 and metal content of the printed circuit boards (PCBs) by analyzing their metals. An example of the precious metal palladium and of the heavy metal lead shows the decreasing trend.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.66-72
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• 2015

Various waste PCBs arose during disassembly of LCD TVs and monitors in which they originally functioned for transmission of imaging signal, power supply, and imaging control. In those functional PCBs, gold and copper are contained at far more acceptable level, exceeding mining grade ores. Those valuable metals and their contents widely vary with functionality and end use of PCBs. Therefore, compositional analysis of individual waste PCBs from disassembled LCD TVs and monitors were performed in the present study to classify them into three categories: high gold yield and low gold yield PCBs and those without gold contents. Besides, additional chemical analysis was made to reveal gold and copper contents in the waste PCBs arising from actual disassembly/separation of end-of-life LCD TVs and monitors.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.71-77
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• 2013

Electronic products such as appliances, computers, and cellular phones have printed circuit boards (PCBs) in common and the PCBs in the waste electronic products contain valuable metals and organic resins. In Korea, recovery and recycling of the organic resins as well as the valuable metallics from the wastes are required indeed as the most of resources are being imported from abroad. In this article, the patents and papers for the recycling of organic residues from the waste PCBs were collected and analyzed. The open patents of USA (US), European Union (EP), Japan (JP), and Korea (KR) and SCI journals from 1979 to 2012 were investigated. The patents and journals were collected using key-words and filtered by the definition of the technology. The patents and journals were analyzed by the years, countries, companies, and technologies and the technical trends were discussed in this paper. It is showed sluggish relatively activity of published papers and patent applications for polymer manufacturing technology in local and abroad.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.14 no.5 s.67
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• pp.45-53
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• 2005

Electro-generated chlorine leaching of waste printed circuit boards was investigated in hydrochloric acid solutions. Non-magnetic component of $0.6{\sim}1.2mm$ was prepared by grinding, magnetic separation, and sieving. The non-magnetic component of pulverized printed circuit board contained about 45% of metal component, in which copper was about 83.6%. The leaching rate of copper was greatly affected by current density and agitation speed. The leaching of copper up to 98% was achieved at $20mA/cm^2$, $50^{\circ}C$, 180 minutes, and 600 rpm in 1M HCl solutions. Increasing agitation and lowering current density enhanced utilization efficiency of electro-generated chlorine. Leaching of copper was suppressed at the initial stage, while the minor metal elements, such as aluminum, lead, and tin, were dominantly leached out.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.29-35
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• 2001

This study was carried out to recover gold, silver and valuable metals from the printed circuit boards (PCBs) of waste computers. PCBs samples were crushed under 1 mm by a shredder and separated into 30% conducting and loft nonconducting materials by an electrostatic separator. The conducting materials contained valuable metals which were then used as feed materials for magnetic separation. 42% of magnetic materials from the conducting materials was removed by magnetic separation as nonvaluable materials and the others, 58% of non magnetic materials, was used as leaching samples containing 0.227 mg/g Au and 0.697 mg/g Ag. Using the materials of leaching from magnetic separation, more than 95% of copper, iron, zinc, nickel and aluminium was dissolved in 2.0M sulfuric acid solution, added with 0.2M hydrogen peroxide at $85^{\circ}C$. Au and Ag were not extracted in this solution. On the other hand, more than 95% of gold and 100% of silver were leached by the selective leaching with a mixed solvent (0.2M($NH_4$)$_2$$S_2$$O_3$,0.02M $CuSO_4$,0.4M $NH_4$OH). Finally, the residues were reacted with a NaCl solution to leach Pb whereas sulfuric acid was used to leach Sn. Recoveries reached 95% and 98% in solution, respectively.