Abstract
E-waste (EW) from discarded electrical and electronic devices is a potential source of rare earth elements (REEs) that might be recovered from urban and industrial wastes. REEs are essential raw materials for emerging and high technologies. China currently dominates global REE production with a proportion of 97%. To increase the independence of REE supply and eliminate the environmental impacts related to REE mining, methods for an efficient REE recovery from secondary sources like EW are needed. In this work, we examine improvements in pre-treatment and acidic leaching processes to recover REEs and other valuable metals. EW was crushed and ground prior to the sieving. The materials obtained were then subjected to acid leaching. The parameters used to optimize the conditions for leaching were as follows: acid type (HCl, HNO3, and aqua regia), particle size, and waste-to-acid ratio. The maximum leaching efficiency was obtained from the ground, sieved, and undersized part of e-waste by using HCl with a W:A of 12.5 mg/mL. The total REE concentration was 435 mg/kg. Several treatment scenarios are identified with promise for improving REE recovery at full scale in EW recovery plants and thereby advancing goals for a sustainable, circular economy.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andrzejewska-Górecka DA, Poniatowska A, Macherzyński B, Wojewódka D, Wszelaka-Rylik ME (2019) Comparison of the effectiveness of biological and chemical leaching of copper, nickel and zinc from circuit boards. J Ecol Eng 20(9). https://doi.org/10.12911/22998993/112485
Baldé CP, Wang F, Kuehr R, Huisman J, (2015) The global e-waste monitor – 2014. United Nations University, IAS – SCYCLE, Bonn, Germany. https://i.unu.edu/media/unu.edu/news/52624/UNU-1stGlobal-E-Waste-Monitor-2014-small.pdf
Betts K (2008) Reducing the global impact of e-waste. Environ Sci Technol 42(5):1393. https://doi.org/10.1021/es087087p
Buechler DT, Zyaykina NN, Spencer CA, Lawson E, Ploss NM, Hua I (2020) Comprehensive elemental analysis of consumer electronic devices: rare earth, precious, and critical elements. Waste Manage 103:67–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2019.12.014
Cobbing M, (2008) Toxic tech: not in our backyard. uncovering the hidden flows of e-waste. https://www.ecotic.ro/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/846472a0b4ca943a0345dfb44e9af06fd82d9931.pdf
Elshehy EA, Shenashen MA, Abd El-Magied MO, Tolan DA, El-Nahas AM, Halada K, Atia AA, El-Safty SA (2017) Selective recovery of silver (i) ions from e-waste using cubically multithiolated cage mesoporous monoliths. Eur J Inorg Chem 41:4823–4833. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejic.201700644
Fontana D, Forte F, De Carolis R, Grosso M (2015) Materials recovery from waste liquid crystal displays: a focus on indium. Waste Manage 45:325–333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2015.07.043
Ghosh M, Sur D, Basu S, Banerjee PS (2020) Metallic materials from e-waste. Encyc Renew Sustain Mat 1:438–455. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-803581-8.10526-0
Golev A, Schmeda-Lopez DR, Smart SK, Corder GD, McFarland EW (2016) Where next on e-waste in Australia? Waste Manage 58:348–358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2016.09.025
Gunjal A, Waghmode M, Patil N, Nawani N, (2020) Environmental management of e-waste by biological process. In Benef Microb Sust Agricult Env Manag, Apple Academic Press, pp 139-155
Haque N, Hughes A, Lim S, Vernon C (2014) Rare earth elements: overview of mining, mineralogy, uses, sustainability and environmental impact. Resources 3(4):614–635. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources3040614
Jiang T, Yang Y, Huang Z, Zhang B, Qiu G (2004) Leaching kinetics of pyrolusite from manganese–silver ores in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. Hydrometallurgy 72(1-2):129–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-386X(03)00136-1
Jing-ying L, Xiu-Li X, Wen-quan L (2012) Thiourea leaching gold and silver from the printed circuit boards of waste mobile phones. Waste Manage 32(6):1209–1212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2012.01.026
Lee H, Mishra B (2018) Selective recovery and separation of copper and iron from fine materials of electronic waste processing. Miner Eng 123:1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2018.04.021
Li J, Gao S, Duan H, Liu L (2009) Recovery of valuable materials from waste liquid crystal display panel. Waste Manage 29(7):2033–2039. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2008.12.013
Li Z, Diaz LA, Yang Z, Jin H, Lister TE, Vahidi E, Zhao F (2019) Comparative life cycle analysis for value recovery of precious metals and rare earth elements from electronic waste. Res Con Rec 149:20–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.05.025
Liu R, Li J, Ge Z (2016) Review on Chromobacterium violaceum for gold bioleaching from e-waste. Pro Env Sci 31:947–953. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proenv.2016.02.119
LME (2021). https://www.lme.com/ accessed on 07.08.2021
Luyima A, Shi H, Zhang L (2011) Leaching studies for metals recovery from waste printed wiring boards. Jom 63(8):38–41
Peelman S, Sun ZH, Sietsm, J, Yang Y, (2016) Leaching of rare earth elements: review of past and present technologies. In Rare Earths Ind, Elsevier, (pp. 319-334) https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-802328-0.00021-8
Resende LV, Morais CA (2010) Study of the recovery of rare earth elements from computer monitor scraps–leaching experiments. Miner Eng 23(3):277–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2009.12.012
Robinson BH (2009) E-waste: an assessment of global production and environmental impacts. Sci Tot Env 408(2):183–191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2009.09.044
Ruan J, Dong L, Zheng J, Zhang T, Huang M, Xu Z (2017) Key factors of eddy current separation for recovering aluminum from crushed e-waste. Waste Manage 60:84–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2016.08.018
Shuva MAH, Rhamdhani MA, Brooks GA, Masood S, Reuter MA (2016) Thermodynamics data of valuable elements relevant to e-waste processing through primary and secondary copper production: a review. J Clean Prod 131:795–809. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.04.061
SMM (2021). https://price.metal.com/Rare-Earth-Metals accessed on 07.08.2021
Step Initiative (2014) Solving the e-waste problem (step) white paper: one global definition of e-waste. United Nations University, Bonn, p 3576
Swain B, Lee CG (2019) Commercial indium recovery processes development from various e-(industry) waste through the insightful integration of valorization processes: a perspective. Waste Manage 87:597–611. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2019.02.042
Tan Q, Li J, Zeng X (2015) Rare earth elements recovery from waste fluorescent lamps: a review. Crit Rev Environ Sci Tech 45(7):749–776. https://doi.org/10.1080/10643389.2014.900240
Tansel B (2017) From electronic consumer products to e-wastes: global outlook, waste quantities, recycling challenges. Environ Int 98:35–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2016.10.002
Torres R, Segura-Bailón B, Lapidus GT (2018) Effect of temperature on copper, iron and lead leaching from e-waste using citrate solutions. Waste Manage 71:420–425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.10.029
Tunali M, Tunali MM, Yenigun O (2021) Characterization of different types of electronic waste: heavy metal, precious metal and rare earth element content by comparing different digestıon methods. J of Material Cyc and Waste Manage 23(1):149–157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-020-01108-0
WEF, (2019) A new circular vision for electronics: time for a global reboot, http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_A_New_Circular_Vision_for_Electronics.pdf
Xing WD, Lee MS (2017) Leaching of gold and silver from anode slime with a mixture of hydrochloric acid and oxidizing agents. Geosys Eng 20(4):216–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/12269328.2017.1278728
Yuksekdag A, Kose-Mutlu B, Kaya B, Kumral M, Wiesner MR, Koyuncu I (2021) Comprehensive characterization of secondary sources originating from Turkey in terms of rare earth elements and scandium. Sci Total Environ 146033:146033. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146033
Yurramendi L, Forte F, Del Rio C, Lagioia R, Salles A, Müller T, Sgarioto S, Binnemans K, (2018)., Recovery of rare earths from e-waste residues by an integrated approach. In Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Enhanced Landfill Mining (ELFM IV), Mechelen (Belgium), 5-6 February 2018. Eds PT Jones and L. Machiels (pp. 127-132)
Zeng X, Wang F, Sun X, Li J (2015) Recycling indium from scraped glass of liquid crystal display: process optimizing and mechanism exploring. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 3(7):1306–1312. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.5b00020
Zhu Z, Pranolo Y, Cheng CY (2015) Separation of uranium and thorium from rare earths for rare earth production–A review. Miner Eng 77:185–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2015.03.012
Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to Akademi Çevre Integrated Waste Management Industry Inc. for the e-waste supply.
Availability of data and materials
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article (and its supplementary information files).
Funding
This study was financially supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) under Project No. 117Y357 and Istanbul Technical University (ITU) Scientific Research Project (Project ID: 41893).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Ayse Yuksekdag: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, resources, writing – original draft, writing – review and editing, visualization. Borte Kose-Mutlu: conceptualization, investigation, methodology, writing – original draft, writing – review and editing, visualization. Bihter Zeytuncu-Gokoglu: methodology, resources. Mustafa Kumral: conceptualization, resources, supervision. Mark R. Wiesner: supervision, writing – review and editing. Ismail Koyuncu: conceptualization, supervision, project administration.
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Ethical approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.
Consent for publication
Not applicable.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Santiago V. Luis
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
ESM 1
(DOCX 11286 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yuksekdag, ., Kose-Mutlu, ., Zeytuncu-Gokoglu, B. et al. Process optimization for acidic leaching of rare earth elements (REE) from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 7772–7781 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16207-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16207-0