Current Status and Future Perspective of Recycling Copper by Hydrometallurgy from Waste Printed Circuit Boards

The current replacement of electronic products is speeding up, resulting in a growing number of e-waste. Electronic waste, especially waste print circuit boards contain large amounts of copper, which not only bring greater ecological threat, but also cause a serious waste of copper resources. Therefore, the study on clean, effective copper leaching technology has a very important practical significance to reduce environmental hazards of waste print circuit board and resources recycling. Hydrometallurgical is a better technology for recycling copper from waste print circuit boards. In this article, hydrometallurgical copper recovery system is divided into four categories: acid leaching, ammonia - ammonium leaching, chloride leaching, as well as other ways of leaching. The advantages and disadvantages of leaching of copper system are analyzed in the process of copper resource utilization. Studies abound on recycling copper from copper-containing waste with citric acid and other complexing agents as the leaching reagent, but studies on recycling copper from waste print circuit boards are rarely reported, which can be used for reference. The trends of the research are using environmentally friendly reagent as leaching agent, selecting the appropriate leaching solution at a certain temperature and pressure and optimizing the subsequent separation procedure. Recycling of waste gas and waste leachate generated in the hydrometallurgical processcan further reduce chemical costs and meet increasingly exacting environmental requirements.