Recovery Of Europium, Yttrium, Zinc And Indium From Electronic Scraps

Abstract:

The technological development seen in the last decades in the various sectors of the electronics industry has stimulated the replacement of electronic equipment. As a result, there has been a growing disposal of obsolete computers and other electronics equipment into landfill sites throughout the world. Computer monitor screens present as coating a powder containing a mixture of oxides and sulphides containing high quantity of yttrium (Y) and zinc (Zn) and other precious metals, in lower amount, but with high commercial value, such as europium (Eu), indium (In), iridium (Ir), strontium (Sr) and zirconium (Zr). Recycling of electronic waste is an important subject not only as waste treatment is concerned, but also when the recovery aspect of valuable materials is considered. This work focus on the recovery of Y, Zn, Eu and In from coating powder residue scraped from discarded computer monitor. The powder was obtained by manually scraping the inner surface of the screen. Two steps of the powder leaching were required. In the first stage of leaching, Eu, Y and large amount of Zn was leached. In the second stage, In and the remained Zn were dissolved. In the step one of leaching a liquor containing 15,5 g/L Y, 23 g/L Zn and 0,87 g/L Eu was obtained. In this step, the dissolution yield of Eu and Y was higher than 97 w/t%, while the dissolution of Zn was around 93 wt%. In the second step of leaching the dissolution of In and Zn was 95 and 99w/t%, respectively. After the leaching step, the metals were separated and purified by solvent extraction. DEHPA was used as extractant, sulphuric acid was used as scrubbing agent for Eu and as stripping agent for Zn and In, while hydrochloride acid was used as Y stripping solution.

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