title: Copper recovery and gold enrichment from waste printed circuit boards by mediated electrochemical oxidation.
abstract: The present study aims to develop an eco-friendly chemical-electrochemical process for the simultaneous recovery of copper and separation of a gold rich residue from waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs). The process was carried out by employing two different types of reactors coupled in series: a leaching reactor with a perforated rotating drum, for the dissolution of base metals and a divided electrochemical reactor for the regeneration of the leaching solution with the parallel electrowinning of copper. The process performances were evaluated on the basis of the dissolution efficiency, current efficiency and specific energy consumptions. Finally a process scale up was realized taking into consideration the optimal values of the operating parameters. The laboratory scale leaching plant allowed the recovery of a high purity copper deposit (99.04wt.%) at a current efficiency of 63.84% and specific energy consumption of 1.75kWh/kg cooper. The gold concentration in the remained solid residue was 25 times higher than the gold concentration in the initial WPCB samples.
authors.affiliation: "Babeş-Bolyai" University, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, 11 Arany Janos Street, Cluj-Napoca RO-400028, Romania.
authors.forename: Szabolcs
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fogarasi
authors.affiliation: "Babeş-Bolyai" University, Interdisciplinary Research Institute on Bio-Nano-Sciences, 42 Treboniu Laurian Street, Cluj-Napoca RO-400271, Romania.
authors.forename: Florica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Imre-Lucaci
authors.affiliation: "Babeş-Bolyai" University, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, 11 Arany Janos Street, Cluj-Napoca RO-400028, Romania. Electronic address: aimre@chem.ubbcluj.ro.
authors.forename: Arpád
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Imre-Lucaci
authors.affiliation: "Babeş-Bolyai" University, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, 11 Arany Janos Street, Cluj-Napoca RO-400028, Romania.
authors.forename: Petru
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ilea
mesh_terms: D002712:Chlorides / Q000737:chemistry; D003201:Computers; D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry*; D055664:Electrochemical Techniques; D059029:Electronic Waste; D005290:Ferric Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D059027:Recycling / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D002712:Chlorides; D005290:Ferric Compounds; D006046:Gold; D003300:Copper; C024555:ferric chloride
keywords: Eco-friendly process; Metal electrodeposition; Metal leaching; Recycling-technology; Waste printed circuit boards