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Copper Leaching Behavior From Waste Printed Circuit Board
Copper Leaching Behavior From Waste Printed Circuit Board
1788 to 1792
#2006 The Mining and Materials Processing Institute of Japan
A novel energy-saving hydrometallurgical recovery process for copper from electronic scrap employing the Cu(I)-ammine complex has
been presented on the basis of a thermodynamic consideration. In order to experimentally explore the feasibility of the leaching stage in this
process, the copper leaching behavior from a printed circuit board (PCB) in ammoniacal alkaline solutions has been investigated under a
nitrogen atmosphere. Copper in PCB was oxidized by Cu(II) to form Cu(I)-ammine complex ions. The leaching reaction can be expressed as:
Cu þ Cu(NH3 )4 2þ ¼ 2Cu(NH3 )2 þ . The Cu(II)-ammine complex significantly enhanced the leaching rate, while the Cu(I)-ammine complex
slightly depressed it. Crushing of the PCB effectively enhanced the leaching rate, because the exposed metallic copper area is increased by the
crushing. The effect of temperature on the leaching rate was insignificant. Consequently, the feasibility of the leaching stage in the proposed
copper recovery process has been experimentally confirmed. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.47.1788]
(Received January 5, 2006; Accepted May 10, 2006; Published July 15, 2006)
Keywords: copper recycling, energy-saving, oxidative leaching, printed circuit board, cupric ammine solution, cuprous ammine solution
0.4 Cu(NH3)42+
Cu(OH)2 Leaching of PCB
0.2 Cu2O
(Cu(I) is produced) Residue
0
Cu(NH3)2+
-0.2
Cu2O
(1) Cu
-0.4 Purification
H2 (Zn, Ni, Ag, etc.,
-0.6 are removed)
-0.8
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
To cathodic compartment
pH
Fig. 1 Potential-pH diagram of the Cu-NH3 -H2 O system at 298 K
Electrowinning
calculated by assuming that the activity of copper is 0.5 and that the with diaphragm
total concentration of the ammonia is 7.0 kmolm3 . (Cathode: Cu is deposited
Anode:Cu(II) is produced)
Cu leaching (%)
Dissolved copper/g 2
¼ 100 ð5Þ
The amount of copper in PCB/g
Potential, E / mV vs SHE
80 300
80
Leaching (%)
60 200
Leaching (%)
60
40 100 Average particle
Diameter, D / mm
20 0 40
3.4
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 20 1.5
Time, t / h
Leaching (%)
60 60
40 Temp.,T / K
40
298
20 20 313
328
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
Time, t / h Time, t / h
Fig. 8 Effect of the Cu(I) concentration on the leaching rate. (PCB: 10 g,
CuSO4 : 0.3 kmol m3 , NH3 : 5 kmol m3 , (NH4 )2 SO4 : 1 kmol m3 , Temp.: Fig. 9 Effect of the temperature on the leaching rate. (PCB: 10 g, CuSO4 :
298 K) 0.3 kmol m3 , NH3 : 5 kmol m3 , (NH4 )2 SO4 : 1 kmol m3 )
The effect of the temperature on the copper leaching slightly depressed it. Increasing the exposed area of metallic
from PCB was also studied. Figure 9 shows the leaching copper by crushing the PCB was important in order to
rate curves for 0.1 kmol m3 CuSO4 -5 kmol m3 NH3 -1 enhance the leaching rate. The effect of temperature on the
kmol m3 (NH4 )2 SO4 at 298 K, 313 K and 328 K. The leaching rate was slight. Consequently, the leaching stage in
leaching rates slightly increased with the rise in temperature. the proposed copper recovery process has been experimen-
As previously reported,9) the activation energy for the tally verified.
leaching of copper with Cu(II) ions in the ammoniacal
alkaline solution was 8 to 13 kJ mol1 . This suggests that the
leaching reaction is limited by the diffusion in the diffusion REFERENCES
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enhanced the leaching rate, while the Cu(I)-ammine complex