Electronic waste is the world's largest-growing waste, this boom in the electronic industry has impacted the environment through the large volumes of waste that are improperly disposed and the increasing demand for precious metals and rare earths from natural sources. Currently, the conventional recycling of these wastes in the industry is composed of a dismantling of equipment, mechanical and/or chemical treatment and finally a refining. These processes can be complex due to the heterogeneity of electronic waste, high water and energy consumption and the generation of hazardous effluents. Taking into account these problems, in this work the recovery of precious metals, of great commercial value (Cu, Co, Au and Ag), from electronic waste, but through an environmentally conscious extraction process, using non-toxic solvents or dangerous, such as ionic liquids (IL) have been studied. The process has been involved in this type of waste and only the use of ionic liquids as leaching agents, where 90 % copper extraction was obtained and cobalt was extracted, these yields could compete with those of the primary metals industry.
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