Determination of Metals’ Content in Components Mounted on Printed Circuit Boards from End-of-Life Mobile Phones

Gorewoda, Tadeusz; Eschen, Marcus; Charasińska, Jadwiga; Knapik, Magdalena; Kozłowicz, Sylwia; Anyszkiewicz, Jacek; Jadwiński, Michał; Potempa, Martyna; Gawliczek, Marta; Chmielarz, Andrzej; Kurylak, Witold

doi:10.3390/recycling5030020

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Metal Leaching from Waste Printed Circuit Boards (WPCBs) Printed circuit boards contain a variety of base metals such as Cu, Fe, Ni, Al, Sn, Pb, Zn and precious metals including Au, Pd, and Ag. The metal composition in PCBs can vary based on the grades (high or low quality); nevertheless, Cu is the element found in a higher concentration ranging from 16 to 38.8% [45]. As per a study carried out by [46], the presence of 24.178% Cu was confirmed by the characterization of PCBs from a mobile phone.…”

Section: Chemical Leachingmentioning

confidence: 82%

A Review on Chemical versus Microbial Leaching of Electronic Wastes with Emphasis on Base Metals Dissolution

et al. 2021

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There is a growing interest in electronic wastes (e-wastes) recycling for metal recovery because the fast depletion of worldwide reserves for primary resources is gradually becoming a matter of concern. E-wastes contain metals with a concentration higher than that present in the primary ores, which renders them as an apt resource for metal recovery. Owing to such aspects, research is progressing well to address several issues related to e-waste recycling for metal recovery through both chemical and biological routes. Base metals, for example, Cu, Ni, Zn, Al, etc., can be easily leached out through the typical chemical (with higher kinetics) and microbial (with eco-friendly benefits) routes under ambient temperature conditions in contrast to other metals. This feature makes them the most suitable candidates to be targeted primarily for metal leaching from these waste streams. Hence, the current piece of review aims at providing updated information pertinent to e-waste recycling through chemical and microbial treatment methods. Individual process routes are compared and reviewed with focus on non-ferrous metal leaching (with particular emphasis on base metals dissolution) from some selected e-waste streams. Future outlooks are discussed on the suitability of these two important extractive metallurgical routes for e-waste recycling at a scale-up level along with concluding remarks.

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Section: Chemical Leachingmentioning

confidence: 82%

A Review on Chemical versus Microbial Leaching of Electronic Wastes with Emphasis on Base Metals Dissolution

et al. 2021

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“…The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/article/ 10.3390/su131810357/s1, Figure S1: Diagram of the dismantling section, or ECs cutter unit, of the WPCBs recycling tool adapted from reference (Fang, Li et al, 2017) and described in the source article as composed of "a frame (1), a driving motor (2), two cutting knives (3), material carrier chain and belt (4,6), an ECs collecting bin (5) with its bin support (8), a knife mounting fixture (7), a dust filter (9) and an exhaust fan (11). ", Figure S2: Water soluble ionic liquid-based reactor pilot (~1000 L) for the disassembly of WPCBs and the recovery of wide range of tin based solder alloys.…”

Section: Supplementary Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the value of the materials it contains (~USD 60 Bn), only 20% of them are currently recycled [2]. Printed circuit boards (PCBs) represent on average 8% of this electronic waste, yet only about 10 out of the 60-plus chemical elements that they contain are routinely recovered and recycled [3][4][5] The recycling of waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) depends on both an informal sector focused on precious metals recovery using highly polluting approaches, and industrial processes based on the pyrometallurgy of centralized waste, treated in depreciated smelters to make use of the calorific value of the WPCB's 30 wt% epoxy resins [6]. Overall, only ~30 w% of the WPCBs' mass is truly recycled [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dismantling of Printed Circuit Boards Enabling Electronic Components Sorting and Their Subsequent Treatment Open Improved Elemental Sustainability Opportunities

et al. 2021

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This critical review focuses on advanced recycling strategies to enable or increase recovery of chemical elements present in waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs). Conventional recycling involves manual removal of high value electronic components (ECs), followed by raw crushing of WPCBs, to recover main elements (by weight or value). All other elements remain unrecovered and end up highly diluted in post-processing wastes or ashes. To retrieve these elements, it is necessary to enrich the waste streams, which requires a change of paradigm in WPCB treatment: the disassembly of WPCBs combined with the sorting of ECs. This allows ECs to be separated by composition and to drastically increase chemical element concentration, thus making their recovery economically viable. In this report, we critically review state-of-the-art processes that dismantle and sort ECs, including some unpublished foresight from our laboratory work, which could be implemented in a recycling plant. We then identify research, business opportunities and associated advanced retrieval methods for those elements that can therefore be recovered, such as refractory metals (Ta, Nb, W, Mo), gallium, or lanthanides, or those, such as the platinum group elements, that can be recovered in a more environmentally friendly way than pyrometallurgy. The recovery methods can be directly tuned and adapted to the corresponding stream.

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“…It constitutes about 20-30% of the weight of a mobile phone (Nnorom and Osibanjo, 2011). Studies by Osibanjo (2011), Hahladakis (2013), Maragkos et al (2013), Ghodrat et al (2018, Adie et al (2019), Intrakamhaeng et al (2019), Gorewoda et al (2020), andLiang et al (2023) showed that the metal content of PWBs varies depending on the type of mobile phone and year of manufacture. Some of the metallic components of a typical PWB of a mobile phone include economic metals (Au, Ag, Cu), toxic metals (Pb, As, Hg, Cd, Se, Cr), non-toxic metals (Fe, Pd, Zn, Ni, Ca, Mn), and non-metals such as Brominated flame retardants (Priya & Hait, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Metals in Printed Wiring Boards of Selected Discarded Mobile Phones in Nigeria

Adie,

Abimbola,

Aribisala

et al. 2024

ETSJ

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Obsolete mobile phones form a major component of the e-waste stream. The Printed wiring boards (PWBs) of mobile phones are packed with economic and toxic metals. Regulatory bodies such as Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directives regulate the amount of these toxic metals in electrical and electronic equipment. This study is aimed at evaluating selected critical metals present in PWBs of three popular brands of discarded mobile phones used in Nigeria to understudy the behaviour of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) regarding toxicity, economic potentials, and level of compliance with international initiatives by regulatory bodies to reduce the level of toxic metals in electronic equipment. PWBs obtained from 60 discarded mobile phones of 3 popular mobile phone brands used in Nigeria were chopped into smaller particles, extracted according to EPA 3050B method, and analysed using the Inductive Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry technique. It was observed that Mn, Fe, Zn, and Cu, had the highest concentration range across all brands studied. Notable toxic metals such as Pb, Cd, Cr, and As have mean and standard deviation values of 0.43±0.38 mg/kg, 0.62±0.160 mg/kg, 5.16±1.06 mg/kg, and 84.97±13.83 mg/kg respectively. Economic metals: Cu, Ag, and Au had mean and standard deviation values of 80.37±16.89 mg/kg, 2.12±0.43 mg/kg, and 0.95±0.19 mg/kg respectively. Results from the study indicate that PWBs of mobile phones are a perfect secondary source of a large variety of metals vital for the recycling industry. Also, the low levels of toxic metals suggest that some OEMs are already adopting the 'design-for-environment' option. Therefore, PWBs studied seem eco-friendly; however, need to be handled with care as there are still some toxic metals of concern not determined in this study.

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Determination of Metals’ Content in Components Mounted on Printed Circuit Boards from End-of-Life Mobile Phones

Cited by 12 publications

References 13 publications

A Review on Chemical versus Microbial Leaching of Electronic Wastes with Emphasis on Base Metals Dissolution

A Review on Chemical versus Microbial Leaching of Electronic Wastes with Emphasis on Base Metals Dissolution

Dismantling of Printed Circuit Boards Enabling Electronic Components Sorting and Their Subsequent Treatment Open Improved Elemental Sustainability Opportunities

Evaluation of Metals in Printed Wiring Boards of Selected Discarded Mobile Phones in Nigeria

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