title: Novel application of the nonmetallic fraction of the recycled printed circuit boards as a toxic heavy metal adsorbent.
abstract: Printed circuit boards (PCBs) constitute one of the major sources of toxicity in landfill areas throughout the world. Hence, PCB recycling and separation of its metallic and nonmetallic components has been considered a major ecological breakthrough. Many studies focus on the metallic fraction of the PCBs due to its economic benefits whereas the nonmetallic powder (NMP) has been left isolated. In this work, the feasibility of using NMP as an adsorbent to remove charged toxic heavy metal ions have been studied and its efficiency has been compared with two widely-used commercial adsorbents. The results indicated that the virgin NMP material has no adsorption capacity, while the application of an activation stage to modify the NMP process has a significant effect on its porosity and thus adsorption capacity. The Cu and Pb removal capacity of the activated sample (A-NMP) at a pH level of 4 was 3 mmol and 3.4 mmol per gram of the adsorbent, respectively, which was considerably higher than the commercial ones.
authors.affiliation: Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR, Hong Kong. phadis@ust.hk
authors.forename: Pejman
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hadi
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Barford
authors.forename: Gordon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: McKay
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry*; D055615:Electrical Equipment and Supplies; D059029:Electronic Waste; D007854:Lead / Q000737:chemistry*; D016062:Porosity; D059027:Recycling; D013499:Surface Properties; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods; D062065:Wastewater
chemical_list: D003300:Copper; D007854:Lead; D062065:Wastewater