WASTE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT'S BEHAVIOUR IN ACID MEDIA

摘要

The WEEE represents a section which is becoming a general trend of today. This is due to its rising amounts and the fact that they contain metals of high commercial value, as well as hazardous ones. So, WEEE can be the source for recovery of non-ferrous metals. The present study aims to develop a hydrometallurgical process in order to produce Cu, Zn and Ni powders, appropriate for powder metallurgical applications. Printed circuit boards (PCB) were used as a raw material and firstly the dissolution of waste in acid media was studied. A thermal pretreatment was carried out for the separation of the non metallic parts, examination by XRD showed the interaction of the metals during heating and then acid baths were used. The investigation of the factors affecting the dissolution included the concentration (0,5M to 6M) of the solvents (HCl, HNO_3, H_2SO_4), the temperature, the reaction time and leaching efficiency of metals.