Recent advances in recovering technology for recycling gold from waste printed circuit boards: a review

With the rapid development of science and technology, the updating speed of electronic equipment is accelerated, massive electronic waste has been produced. According to statistics, about 53.8 million tons of e-waste were generated worldwide in 2019, which is expected to increase to 74 million tons by 2030. Printed circuit board (PCB) is the core component of electronic equipment. The surge of electronic waste leads to a large number of waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs). One ton of WPCBs contains about 80-1500 g of gold, and the concentration is 40-800 times that of gold in gold ore. Therefore, WPCBs have become a gold mine with great recycling potential. In recent years, more and more researchers have paid attention to the recovery of gold resources in WPCBs, which is of great significance to explore the economic potential of WPCBs. This review excludes smelter technology and summarizes the related processes of gold recovery from WPCBs from three aspects: physical technology, biological metallurgy and hydrometallurgy. Physical technology is environmentally friendly, biological metallurgy is more cost-effective and safe, hydrometallurgy makes up for the metal loss caused by traditional recovery technology, and has high applicability. Based on the existing technology, an environment-friendly and efficient process for gold recovery from WPCBs is proposed.

Automated summary

With the rapid development of science and technology, electronic waste generation has increased, resulting in a large number of waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs). WPCBs contain a substantial amount of gold, making them a valuable resource for recycling. This review summarizes the processes of gold recovery from WPCBs, including physical technology, biological metallurgy, and hydrometallurgy, and proposes an environmentally friendly and efficient process for gold recovery.