Copper Recovery from Printed Circuit Boards Using Acidic Ferric Chloride Leaching and Electrodeposition

MASARI, F.; CERÉ, S.; VALCARCE, M. B.

JOM (1989)

SPRINGER

Año: 2020

1047-4838

In this work, 0.5 mol L-1 HCl and 0.13 mol L-1 FeCl3 has been used as leachingsolution of industrially wasted copper at room temperature. Copper recovery from theleaching solution has been studied by batch electrodeposition at room temperature andusing either different constant current densities or by pulsing the current. The depositsobtained at 20 mA cm-2 show low efficiencies and are mainly composed of Cu0 withCuCl being a minor component. When the deposits are obtained at 50 mA cm-2 theefficiency is higher, but the adherence is poor and the porosity is high. By using pulsedelectrodeposition, it is possible to improve the adherence of the deposits. However, thedeposits are contaminated with copper and iron oxides, as well as with chloridecompounds. Tin was not detected in any of the deposits obtained using all theelectrodeposition conditions tested in this work.In this work, 0.5 mol L-1 HCl and 0.13mol L-1 FeCl3 has been used as leaching solution of industrially wasted copper atroom temperature. Copper recovery from the leaching solution has been studied bybatch electrodeposition at room temperature and using either different constant currentdensities or by pulsing the current. The deposits obtained at 20 mA cm-2 show lowefficiencies and are mainly composed of Cu0 with CuCl being a minor component.When the deposits are obtained at 50 mA cm-2 the efficiency is higher, but theadherence is poor and the porosity is high. By using pulsed electrodeposition, it ispossible to improve the adherence of the deposits. However, the deposits arecontaminated with copper and iron oxides, as well as with chloride compounds. Tinwas not detected in any of the deposits obtained using all the electrodepositionconditions tested in this work.