Metals recovery: Study of the kinetic aspects of copper acidic leaching waste printed circuit boards from discarded mobile phones

Martina Laubertová*, Bora Derin, Jarmila Trpčevská, Klaudia Šándorová, Emília Sminčáková

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study was performed to investigate the possibility of copper recovery from the waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) of waste mobile phones using a hydrometallurgical route as cleaner technology for environmental protection. In recycling, elements such as copper and aluminium are recovered, as well as the precious metals gold, silver, platinum and palladium, which can be recouped profitably from electronic waste and make this waste very valuable for recycling. In the experiments, the conventional agitated acid leaching method was used for mechanically pre-treated WPCBs with a mean Cu content of 19.09 wt % in a sulphuric acid medium with the presence of Fe3+ as an oxidant. The effects of Fe2(SO4)3 concentration, leaching time, temperature and the ratio of liquid to solid phase on the recovery of copper from the solutions were studied. The highest Cu extraction was achieved at 363 K after 15 min of leaching, and a liquid to solid ratio (L/S) of 20. The value of activation energy (Ea), which was found to be ~14.87 kJ.mol-1, indicates that this process is diffusion controlled. The apparent order of reaction with regard to the initial Fe2(SO4)3 concentration at 313 K was calculated as 0.55. The proposed scheme of copper recovery from WPCBs of mobile phones was designed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)223-233
Number of pages11
JournalActa Montanistica Slovaca
Volume24
Issue number3
Publication statusPublished - 2019
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Technical University of Kosice. All rights reserved.

Funding

Acknowledgement: This work was supported by the Ministry for Education of the Slovak Republic under VEGA grant [1/0442/17] and VEGA grant [1/0631/17].

FundersFunder number
Ministry for Education of the Slovak Republic
Vedecká Grantová Agentúra MŠVVaŠ SR a SAV1/0631/17, 1/0442/17

    Keywords

    • Copper
    • Discarded mobile phones
    • Leaching
    • Metallurgy

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