COPPER AND LEAD RECOVERY FROM DISCARDED PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARDS BY ELECTROLYSING LEACHED SOLUTION

Abstract

Results of copper and lead recovery from discarded printing circuit boards (PCB) by acidic dissolution and electrodeposition are presented. A preliminary procedure of the recovery process is proposed with the following steps: disposal of the mounted electrical elements, cleaning, grinding, iron separation for grains screening, metal dissolution, and electrolysis. The composition analysis is performed to define suitable electrochemical parameters for recovery. XRF and AAS techniques are used for preliminary estimation of metal content in leached solution. LSV method is implemented to establish parameters for copper electrodeposition. The product quality is evaluated through XRD analysis. The high recovery efficiencies, 97.61% and 96.59 % for copper (in metallic form) and lead (in dioxide form), respectively, were reached.