An investigation of trends in precious metal and copper content of RAM modules in WEEE: Implications for long term recycling potential

Charles, Rhys G.; Douglas, Peter; Hallin, Ingrid; Matthews, Ian; Liversage, Gareth

doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2016.11.018

Cited by 96 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…However, previous studies have shown that the amount of copper used in products has changed over time. For some products, such as buildings, cars, and electrical and electronic equipment, the amount of copper is increasing (Charles, Douglas, Hallin, Matthews, & Liversage, 2017). In some cases, it seems likely that copper use will decline as it is replaced by other materials (see below).…”

Section: Copper Intensitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling copper demand in China up to 2050: A business‐as‐usual scenario based on dynamic stock and flow analysis

Dong

Tukker

Voet

2019

J of Industrial Ecology

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In this paper, we develop a dynamic stock model and scenario analysis involving a bottom‐up approach to analyze copper demand in China from 2005 to 2050 based on government and related sectoral policies. The results show that in the short‐term, China's copper industry cannot achieve a completely circular economy without additional measures. Aggregate and per capita copper demand are both set to increase substantially, especially in infrastructure, transportation, and buildings. Between 2016 and 2050, total copper demand will increase almost threefold. Copper use in buildings will stabilize before 2050, but the copper stock in infrastructure and transportation will not yet have reached saturation in 2050. The continuous growth of copper stock implies that secondary copper will be able to cover just over 50% of demand in 2050, at best, even with an assumed recycling rate of 90%. Finally, future copper demand depends largely on the lifetime of applications. There is therefore an urgent need to prolong the service life of end‐use products to reduce the amount of materials used, especially in large‐scale applications in buildings and infrastructure.

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Section: Copper Intensitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling copper demand in China up to 2050: A business‐as‐usual scenario based on dynamic stock and flow analysis

Dong

Tukker

Voet

2019

J of Industrial Ecology

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“…The dust-like E-waste samples were derived from processed and shredded PCBs. The ESM was ground (using an IKA M20 batch mill, with tungsten carbide blade) to decrease the particle size for more effective acid digestion [23]. The ground ESM particles were sieved to a particle size smaller than 250 µm.…”

Section: Digestion Reagents and Electronic Scrapmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Wet Digestion Methods for Quantification of Metal Content in Electronic Scrap Material

Das

Ting

2017

Resources

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Recent advances in the electronics sector and the short life-span of electronic products have triggered an exponential increase in the generation of electronic waste (E-waste). Effective recycling of E-waste has thus become a serious solid waste management challenge. E-waste management technologies include pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, and bioleaching. Determining the metal content of an E-waste sample is critical in evaluating the efficiency of a metal recovery method in E-waste recycling. However, E-waste is complex and of diverse origins. The lack of a standard digestion method for E-waste has resulted in difficulty in comparing the efficiencies of different metal recovery processes. In this study, several solid digestion protocols including American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)-D6357-11, United States Environment Protection Agency Solid Waste (US EPA SW) 846 Method 3050b, ultrasound-assisted, and microwave digestion methods were compared to determine the metal content (Ag, Al, Au, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Pd, Sn, and Zn) of electronic scrap materials (ESM) obtained from two different sources. The highest metal recovery (mg/g of ESM) was obtained using ASTM D6357-11 for most of the metals, which remained mainly bound to silicate fractions, while a microwave-assisted digestion protocol (MWD-2) was more effective in solubilizing Al, Pb, and Sn. The study highlights the need for a judicious selection of digestion protocol, and proposes steps for selecting an effective acid digestion method for ESM.

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“…An efficient recovery of precious metals of PCBs from WEEE is essential to offset demand for primary resources. 17 HF + NaClO mixtures were less performant in this aspect because gold and palladium were brought into a complex leachate as minor components, making their recovery more difficult.…”

Section: Elements Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These results are in the range reported in the literature for PCBs from cell phones. 6,7,17,32,[58][59][60] …”

Section: Elements Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…7,8,14,15 About 30% of gold, 20% of palladium and 12% of silver come from secondary sources. 7,16,17 Yet, the fact that such a highly complex concoction of various valuable and sometimes hazardous materials are intermingled in such a small volume poses serious engineering challenges for the recovery and recycling of the constituent materials. The heterogeneous mix of organics, metals, fiber glass and plastics makes the PCB processing a challenging task, 3 and is the main barrier in the recovery of metals from scraps.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Recovery of Lead and Noble Metals After Processing Printed Circuit Boards From Cell Phones by Leaching With Mixtures Containing Hydrogen Fluoride

Silva¹,

Corrêa²,

Gismonti³

et al. 2018

Quim. Nova

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This work examines the leaching of printed circuit boards (PCBs) from cell phones in aqueous solutions containing HF + H 2 O 2 or HF + NaClO under mild experimental conditions. The PCBs were not ground but were previously treated with 6 mol L -1 NaOH at 50 o C for 1 h to remove their soldering mask. , respectively. The processing of the solid residue is also described in detail. It was leached with water at ~90 o C followed by HNO 3aq. at 25 o C. Lead, palladium and silver were recovered in this order, leaving gold as final solid. After 1 h at [35][36][37][38][39][40] o C, 5 mol L -1 HF + 0.3 mol L -1 NaClO mixtures leached the base metals, copper, gold and palladium. Gold was recovered by liquid-liquid extraction with methyl isobutyl ketone. Silver precipitated as chloride. This salt was isolated by leaching with NH 3aq . Loss of fluoride ions (as HF) was below 0.5 wt.% after leaching and handling the solid residue.

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An investigation of trends in precious metal and copper content of RAM modules in WEEE: Implications for long term recycling potential

Cited by 96 publications

References 54 publications

Modeling copper demand in China up to 2050: A business‐as‐usual scenario based on dynamic stock and flow analysis

Modeling copper demand in China up to 2050: A business‐as‐usual scenario based on dynamic stock and flow analysis

Evaluation of Wet Digestion Methods for Quantification of Metal Content in Electronic Scrap Material

Recovery of Lead and Noble Metals After Processing Printed Circuit Boards From Cell Phones by Leaching With Mixtures Containing Hydrogen Fluoride

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