Production of copper powder from printed circuit boards by electrodeposition

Abstract

During the last years, the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) are gathering attention, as a very special section of waste. In fact, they have been proven to be source for the recovery of metals. In the present study printed circuit boards (PCBs) were cut and treated thermally at 500°C for 1 h in both air and nitrogen atmosphere. The obtained material was dissolved in three different acid media HNO3aq, HClaq and H2SO4aq, in order to extract copper. The achieved Cu recovery percentages were 97.5, 65 and 76.5% respectively. Electrodeposition technique was applied in order to recover copper in powder form. More than 98% of copper was recovered achieved by application of high current density resulting to dendritic structure of copper. The applied process was characterised by a high current efficiency and led to the production of copper powder of 80 μm mean diameter appropriate for powder metallurgy applications. © 2009 Global NEST.