Journal
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
Volume 294, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126346
Keywords
Bioleaching; Copper; Electrowinning; Precipitation; Printed circuit boards
Categories
Funding
- Suleyman Demirel University Research Projects Coordination Unit, Turkey [4957-D2-17]
- Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) [113Y01]
- Karadeniz Technical University, Turkey
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The study assessed the bioleaching of copper from high-grade waste printed circuit boards collected from obsolete mobile phones using iron and sulfur oxidizing bacteria. It was found that the microorganisms efficiently solubilized copper from the boards, leading to improved efficiency in copper electrowinning. The novel approach of iron precipitation and solvent displacement crystallisation significantly enhanced the current efficiency during the electrowinning process.
Bioleaching of copper from electronic waste (e-waste) in the form of high grade waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) collected from obsoletemobile phones is assessed using a consortium of iron (Fe2+) & sulfur (S degrees) oxidizing bacteria in a semi-pilot reactor system. Results from the study indicated that the microorganisms were able to grow in the presence of WPCB and efficiently solubilize Cu from it. At a solid/liquid ratio of 10% (w/v)with a particle size of <250 mu m, maximum bioleaching efficiency of around 95% Cu was observed in 8 days of leaching under oxidation-reduction potentials (ORP) of >600 mV and pH 1.8. In order to recover the metallic values, electrowinning (EW) of copper from the bioleach solutions was investigated in detail. Direct EW of the bioleach solution yielded low current efficiencies (66.1% over 4 h.), ascribed due to the high concentrations of iron (i.e., 9.1 g/L). As a novel approach, a downstream purification and concentration process was further tested, that involved ferric hydroxide (Fe(OH)(3)) precipitation and solvent displacement crystallisation (SDC) to eliminate iron and increase the concentration of copper in solution prior to its application for EW. This significantly improved the current efficiency (by similar to 22%) during the EW of copper. A process flow-sheet for Cu recovery from WPCBs was developed and the downstream process was found to be profitable even though its margin was small with techno-economic analysis. It is believed that the two-step hybrid process i.e. bioleaching technique followed by the novel approach proposed (i.e., iron precipitation + SDC) can be suitably employed for the extraction of copper from WPCBs. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available