Recent advances on hydrometallurgical recovery of critical and precious elements from end of life electronic wastes - a review

Manivannan Sethurajan (1) , Eric D. van Hullebusch (2) , Danilo Fontana (3) , Ata Akcil (4) , Haci Deveci (5) , Bojan Batinic (6) , Joao Leal (7) , Teresa Gasche (7) , Mehmet Ali Kucuker (8) , Kerstin Kuchta (8) , Isabel Neto (9) , Helena Soares (9) , Andrzej Chmielarz (10)

1 IHE Delft Institute for Water Education
2 IPGP (UMR_7154) - Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
3 ENEA - Agenzia Nazionale per le nuove Tecnologie, l’energia e lo sviluppo economico sostenibile = Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development
4 Süleyman Demirel University
5 KTU - Karadeniz Technical University
6 University of Novi Sad
7 ULISBOA - Universidade de Lisboa = University of Lisbon
8 TUHH - Hamburg University of Technology
9 Universidade do Porto = University of Porto
10 Instytut Metali Niezelaznych

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) contains economically significant levels of precious, critical metals and rare earth elements, apart from base metals and other toxic compounds. Recycling and recovery of critical elements from WEEEs using a cost-effective technology are now one of the top priorities in metallurgy due to the rapid depletion of their natural resources. More than 150 publications on WEEE management, leaching and recovery of metals from WEEE were reviewed in this work, with special emphasize on the recent research (2015-2018). This paper summarizes the recent progress regarding various hydrometallurgical processes for the leaching of critical elements from WEEEs. Various methodologies and techniques for critical elements selective recovery (using ionic liquids, solvent extraction, electrowinning, adsorption, and precipitation) from the WEEEs leachates are discussed. Future prospects regarding the use of WEEEs as secondary resources for critical raw materials and its techno-economical and commercial beneficiaries are discussed.

Keywords: Rare earth elements; WEEEs; Critical raw materials; Critical and precious metals; E-Wastes; Hydrometallurgy; Metal selective recovery

Domains: Chemical engineering; Environmental Engineering

Manivannan Sethurajan, Eric D. van Hullebusch, Danilo Fontana, Ata Akcil, Haci Deveci, et al.. Recent advances on hydrometallurgical recovery of critical and precious elements from end of life electronic wastes - a review. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 2019, 49 (3), pp.212-275. ⟨10.1080/10643389.2018.1540760⟩. ⟨insu-02549695⟩