About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Rare Metal Extraction & Processing
|
| Presentation Title |
Hydrometallurgical processing of discarded PCBs to recover precious and base metals |
| Author(s) |
Shushant Shekher Rakshit, Rekha Panda, Ankur Sharma, Apurva Aditi, Manis Kumar Jha |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Shushant Shekher Rakshit |
| Abstract Scope |
A novel hydrometallurgical process flow-sheet for recovering precious and base metals from printed circuit boards (PCBs) begins with depopulation of components like heat sinks (for aluminum recovery), RAM/ICs (for gold), and other refurbishable items. RAM and ICs are treated with suitable lixiviant to dissolve gold, which is recovered via charcoal adsorption and high-temperature burning. Naked PCBs along with gold depleted RAMs and ICs undergo crushing and pulverization followed by two stage leaching using 20% H2SO4 and 10% H2O2 to dissolve copper, nickel and zinc. Sequential solvent extraction at pH 2.5 and 4.5 recovers copper and nickel respectively as copper sulfate and nickel sulfate, while zinc is precipitated as Zn(OH)2. The solid leached residue containing silver, lead and tin were subjected for further treatments. This integrated route ensures selective and efficient metal recovery from electronic waste. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Extraction and Processing, Hydrometallurgy, Recycling and Secondary Recovery |