COPPER EXTRACTION FROM THE DISCARDED PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD BY LEACHING

Electronics waste (E-waste) is the fastest growing waste stream in the industrialized and urbanized world. Apart from domestic generation in India, the imported e-waste volume is also growing substantially. E-waste is being exported from western countries to Asian countries like China, India, etc. for disposal. Due to lack of proper technology for the recycling of waste electronic equipments, the amount of generation of E-waste is increasing rapidly. In this paper mechanically pre-treated PCBs are leached with nitric acid and metal Cu distributions in every fraction were determined by using volumetric analysis and it is found that the Percentage availability of Cu in the sample PCB taken is 19.4 Wt%. This Project also deals with the experimental results of the leaching of metal Cu from Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) from obsolete electronic devices by using different combinations of acidic mixture. The crushed PCB was leached by using the aqueous solutions like 2.18N H2SO4, 3N HCL, 1N HNO3 and combination of those acidic solutions at different proportions. The use of low concentration acidic solution is to control the experimental cost and to prevent the environment. After the leaching of metals, the metal dissolved solution is taken for electro deposition process for the recovery of Cu.