1st Edition

Metal Recovery from Electronic Waste: Biological Versus Chemical Leaching for Recovery of Copper and Gold

By Arda Işildar Copyright 2019

    Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) generation is a global problem. Despite the growing awareness and deterring legislation, most of the WEEE is disposed improperly, i.e. landfilled or otherwise shipped overseas, and treated in sub-standard conditions. Informal recycling of WEEE has catastrophic effects on humans and the environment. WEEE contains considerable quantities of valuable metals such as base metals, precious metals and rare earth elements (REE). Metal recovery from WEEE is conventionally carried out by pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical methods.

    In this PhD research, novel metal recovery technologies from WEEE are investigated. Using acidophilic and cyanide-generating bacteria, copper and gold were removed from crushed electronic waste with removal efficiencies of 98.4 and 44.0%, respectively. The leached metals in solution were recovered using sulfidic precipitation and electrowinning separation techniques. Finally, a techno-economic assessment of the technology was studied. This research addresses the knowledge gap on two metal extraction approaches, namely chemical and biological, from a secondary source of metals. The essential parameters of the selective metal recovery processes, scale-up potential, techno-economic and sustainability assessment have been studied.

    Introduction
    1.1 Introduction
    1.2 Research goals and questions
    1.3 Research approach and methodology
    1.4 Structure of this dissertation

    2 Electronic waste as a secondary source of metals, its management and recovery technologies
    Abstract
    2.1 Introduction
    2.2 Global and regional WEEE generation
    2.3 Waste as a secondary resource in transition to a circular economy
    2.4 Improper management of WEEE
    2.5 Transboundary movement of WEEE
    2.6 Metals in WEEE
    2.7 Metal recovery from WEEE
    2.8 Physical pretreatment of WEEE
    2.9 Treatment and refining of WEEE
    2.10 Conclusions and perspectives

    3 Biorecovery of metals from electronic waste – A review
    Abstract
    3.1 Introduction
    3.2 Microbial mobilization of metals from electronic waste
    3.3 Biorecovery of metals
    3.4 Conclusions

    4 Characterization of discarded printed circuit boards and a multi-criteria analysis approach for metal recovery technology selection
    Abstract
    4.1 Introduction
    4.2 Methodology
    4.3 Results
    4.4 Discussion
    4.5 Conclusions

    5 Bioleaching of copper and gold from discarded printed circuit boards
    Abstract
    5.1 Introduction
    5.2 Materials and methods
    5.3 Results
    5.4 Discussion
    5.5 Conclusions

    6 Two-step leaching of valuable metals from discarded printed circuit boards, process kinetics, and optimization using response surface methodology
    Abstract
    6.1 Introduction
    6.2 Materials and methods
    6.3 Results
    6.4 Leaching of copper in oxidative medium
    6.5 Leaching of gold in ammoniacal thiosulfate medium
    6.6 Discussion
    6.7 Conclusions

    7 Selective recovery of copper from the leachate solution by sulfide precipitation and electrowinning
    Abstract
    7.1 Introduction
    7.2 Materials and methods
    7.3 Results
    7.4 Discussion
    7.5 Conclusions

    8 Techno-economic assessment and environmental sustainability analysis of a newly developed metal recovery technology
    Abstract
    8.1 Introduction
    8.2 Methodology
    8.3 Sustainability assessment of the newly developed technology
    8.4 Techno-economic assessment of the processes
    8.5 Results
    8.6 Conclusions

    9 General discussion and conclusions
    9.1 Introduction
    9.2 Motivation for metal recovery from WEEE
    9.3 Electronic waste as a secondary source of metals
    9.4 Metal extraction from the discarded PCB
    9.5 Recovery: electrowinning versus sulfidic precipitation
    9.6 Techno-economic assessment and environmental sustainability analysis of an emerging technology at an early stage of development
    9.7 Strategies for the development of a sustainable technology to recover metals from electronic waste
    9.8 Overall conclusions

    References

    Biography

    Arda received his B.Eng. in Environmental Engineering from Istanbul University, Turkey in 2009. The title of the final thesis was ''Treatment of Pharmaceutical Waste Water by Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) Processes''. He completed his M.Sc. studies at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in 2013 with merits, his thesis was entitled ''Adaptation Measures to Climate Change in the Eastern Mediterranean with a Focus on Water Resources'' supervised by Prof. Peter Wilderer. In his professional career, Arda has experience as a consultant, researcher and project engineer; including GFA Consulting Group (Hamburg, Germany), Rachel Carson Center (Munich, Germany) and Istanbul Water and Sewage Administration (Istanbul, Turkey). Between October 2013 and November 2016, Arda conducted his Ph.D. research at the Pollution Prevention and Resource Recovery (PPRR) chair group of Environmental Engineering Water Technology department, led by Prof. Piet Lens, at UNESCO-IHE (Delft, the Netherlands). Currently, he is employed at the electronics manufacturing industry as an environmental management expert.