Engineering Science and Materials Commons^™

Hydrometallurgical Process For Extraction Of Metals From Electronic Waste-Part I: Material Characterization And Process Option Selection, Zeljko J. Kamberovic

Zeljko J Kamberovic

Used electronic equipment became one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world. In the past two decades recycling of printed circuit boards (PCBs) has been based on pyrometallurgy, higly polluting recycling technology whic causes a variety of environmental problems. The most of the contemporary research activities on recovery of base and precious metals from waste PCBs are focused on hydrometallurgical techniques as more exact, predictable and easily controlled. In this paper mechanically pretrated PCBs are leached with nitric acid. Pouring density, percentage of magnetic fraction, particle size distribution, metal content and leachability are determined using optical microscopy, atomic …