Leaching of copper from printed circuit boards in waste electrical and electronic equipment | |
| Author | Dharmawansa, Chetha Piyadasunika |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.EV-18-06 |
| Subject(s) | Copper Electronic waste |
| Note | A thesis submittedin partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Environmental Engineering and Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Copper is the majority of heavy metals present in any type of printed circuit boards although quantity may vary by number. Therefore this study was done in order to leach out copper from waste PCB as a part of recovering the metals sing hydrometallurgy. In this study batch operations are conducted in order to determine the optimum and economic conditions in leaching copper in PCB. After the pre-processing of PCB sample, it was subjected to various conditions where in first round the lixiviant and its concentration was varied, next the solid to liquid ratio, rate of mixing and contact time was varied in each step. In each step the result of the first experiment was replaced by the conditions of initial operation. All operations were conducted in ambient conditions. The percentage leaching of copper was measured using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) Machine. The results obtained shows that when operated at ambient temperature by mixing 3M HNO3and pulverized WPCB at a solid to liquid ratio of 1:20, in an orbital rotary shaker at 150 rpm for 24 hours, around 84% of the copper contained in the sample can be leached. This procedure is economical compared to other procedures defined as the only machines used in this process was a milling machine for pulverizing purposes and a shaker to provide agitation. Since there is no temperature elevation performed, the procedure is considered to be economical. |
| Year | 2018 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Environmental Engineering (EV) |
| Chairperson(s) | Annachhatre, Ajit P.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Chettiyappan Visvanathan;Shipin, Oleg V.; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Asian Institute of Technology Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2018 |