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HYDROMETALLURGICAL RECOVERY OF SILVER FROM E-WASTE

Igor Wachter

Abstract

Electronic waste is becoming a serious environmental and economical concern worldwide. The annual growth rate of about 4-5 % in 2016 is one of the fastest growing waste stream in municipal wastes and only about 20% of e-waste is recycled. The rapid growth in the use of electronic equipment caused by various socio-economic reasons has contributed significantly to the generation of large quantity of e-waste. After the use-phase, the electronic devices become electronic waste (e-waste); consequently, it is important to consider e-waste as a secondary supply for the recovery of these metals. Electronic equipment contains precious and strategic metals such as Au, Ag, Pt, Cu, Nb, Ta and others. After the use-phase, the electronic devices become electronic waste (e-waste); consequently, it is important to consider e-waste as a secondary supply for the recovery of these metals. This paper presents a hydrometallurgical recovery procedure of Ag from used computer keyboards. After collection of the raw material the main plastic sheet component (mylar) containing printed Ag circuits was separated and trimmed to a smaller pieces to fit into the container. To remove the silver from the mylar concentrated nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide were used. Subsequent steps and operations were used to convert the sample into metallic form. Final yield reached up to 1.35 % of Ag.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2019v/4.2/s05.013

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