MODULE- 5 BCHES102

Syllabus
E-Waste: Introduction, sources of e-waste, Composition, Characteristics, and Need of e- waste
management. Toxic materials used in manufacturing electronic and electrical products, health
hazards due to exposure to e-waste. Recycling and Recovery: Different approaches of recycling
(separation, thermal treatments, hydrometallurgical extraction, pyrometallurgical methods, direct
recycling). Extraction of gold from E-waste. Role of stake holders in environmental management of
e-waste (producers, consumers, recyclers, and statutory bodies).

E-WASTE MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION

In the new world of materials, usage of electrical and

electronic items has been increasing rapidly year by year. These
materials have lesser life span and also used for lesser duration due
to fast change in features and the capabilities. Cumulative result of
increased manufacturing, usage and discarding is rapid increase the
amount of end-of- life electronics and electrical items. All electronic
and electrical items which are discarded on completion of their
useful life together is called as e-waste.

SOURCES OF E-WASTE

Main sources of e-waste are:

1. Computer peripherals: Monitor, key board, mouse, mother
board, lap tops, CDs etc.
2. Telecommunication devices: phones, cell phones, routers,
pagers, fax machine etc.
3. Household appliances: TV, fridge, washing machine, video
players, ovens etc.
4. Industrial electronics: Sensors, medical devices, automobile
devices etc.
5. Electrical devices: switches, wires, bulbs etc.
COMPOSITION OF E-WASTE

E-waste is characterized by more than 1000 hazardous and non-

hazardous materials.

1. E-waste contains about 65 % of iron, steel and other metallic

materials including costly metals like platinum, gold, silver
and toxic metals like lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium etc.
2. E-waste contains about 21 % of polymeric non-biodegradable
materials including Poly vinyl chlorides (PVCs), polychlorinated
biphenyls, and brominated flame retardant plastics.
3. E-waste also contains about 11.8% of CRT and LCD screens
and other materials like glass, wood, plywood, and ceramics.

Most of these products are ended up in landfills, rubbish dumps, and

recycling centers creating several complications for waste management
officials, policy makers, and residents.

CHARACTERISTICS OF E-WASTE
 It contains hazardous and non-hazardous substances in their
components.

 E-waste is made up of complex mixture of materials

(recyclable/non-recyclable) making it challenging to recycle and
dispose of properly.

 E-waste comprises of bio-degradable and non-biodegradable

materials.

TOXIC MATERIALS USED IN MANUFACTURING

ELECTRONIC AND ELECTRICAL PRODUCTS

According to toxicity, the types of substances in E-waste can be

categorized into Hazardous and Non-hazardous substances.
Hazardous substances are toxic, and can affect the quality of the
ecosystem and can have detrimental effects on human health. These
include:

1. Heavy metals like Cd, Cr, Pb and Hg

 2. Organic compounds like chlorofluorocarbons, polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDES),
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) etc.

HEALTH HAZARDS DUE TO EXPOSURE TO E-WASTE

Major problem with the e-waste is passing of toxic metals and

organic compounds present in e-waste in to ecosystem that is air,
water and soil and ultimately to living beings. Contamination of
ecosystem by E-waste hazards is mainly due to:

1. Informal E-waste recycling techniques employed for metal

recovery or unscientific ways used for recycling may result in
accumulation in landfills and end up within the environment.
2. Open burning of printed circuit boards and electric cables
to recover copper releases dioxins, PAHs, PCBs etc. into the
environment.
3. Unscientific dumping of e-waste.
4. Many of the effluents are acidic and change the pH of the
natural soil and results in reduction of harvest in
commercial agricultural systems.
5. Toxic elements were found to disturb the nitrogen and
potassium absorption by plants which are important
component in plant growth and development. Toxic
substances gradually through crops enter into ecosystem.
6. Waste water from E-waste recycle or dumping sites is another
major transport pathway for contamination of aquatic
systems. Open burning sites of e-waste releases toxic
substances into the atmosphere which in turn enter human
body through inhalation, ingestion, and dermal contact
pathways.
7. Most of these heavy metals are carcinogenic.
8. People living nearby to E-waste collection, dumping, and
incineration sites are direct victims for the toxic contaminants.
There are higher number of incidences with skin damages,
headache, vertigo, chronic gastritis, gastric ulcers, and
duodenal ulcers.
 9. Contaminants such as heavy metals, PAHs, PCBs, and
polybrominated diphenyls are able to create human
gastrointestinal irritation, DNA damage, hormonal
disorders and adverse birth effects.
10. Cadmium metal can damage Kidneys and Lead metal affect
the central nervous system as well as deterioration of
intelligent quotient in children. Mercury is a potential
mutagenic compound and can cause chronic damage to brain.
11. Placentas collected from mothers who live near e-waste dumping
sites have shown very high concentration of toxic chemicals.

NEED OF E-WASTE MANAGEMENT

It is an important global concern with respect to

environmental, health and economic concern. Hence, proper
efficient e-waste management is required for the recovery and reuse
of components of e-waste.
1. Environmental impact: e-waste is a complex mixture of
metals, organics, and ceramics. Disposing of this mixture in
landfills can cause release of toxic chemicals into soil,
water, air and human beings.
2. Resource depletion: e-waste contains valuable materials
such as gold, silver and copper that can be recovered and
recycled. This helps to conserve natural resources and reduce
the need for new resource extraction.
3. Health risks: e-waste can pose health risks to workers
involved in the informal recycling sector and to communities
living near e-waste dumping sites.
4. Data security: e-waste contains personal information and
confidential business data that could be exploited if not
properly managed.
5. Economic benefits: Proper e-waste management can create job
opportunities and generate revenue from the sale of recovered
materials.

RECYCLING AND RECOVERY OF E-WASTE

In E-waste, among various constituents, metals contribute to the

significant economic value, and the efforts are focused on extracting
those metals during recycling operations.

Recovery and Recycling Technologies

First step is pre-treatment step. This involves physical removal of

toxic materials and unwanted components and then manual
dismantling and separation of components such as PCBs, monitors,
batteries, etc. into various fractions like metals, ceramics, plastics,
wood, and paper using hammers, screwdrivers.
The next step is the shredding of the materials mechanically through
crushers and grinders to collect fragments of metal bearing
components. Then the waste is passed through electrical separators to
separate the metallic and non-metallic components and Magnetic
separator is used to separate ferrous metals. Gravity separation is used
to separate Al metal. Finally, after physical separation, various
chemical techniques are employed to recover metals.
Most widely used techniques for metal recovery are:

1) Pyrometallurgical process. 2) Hydrometallurgical process.

1. PYROMETALLURGICAL PROCESS

Smelting, combustion, pyrolysis, and molten salt processes are the

main pyrometallurgical methods employed for recovery of metals from
E –waste.
 a) Smelting
Copper smelting is commonly used for recovery of nonferrous metal
fractions from e-waste. The processed scrap after preliminary stage
contains mainly iron (Fe), aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), lead (Pb),
tin (Sn), antimony (Sb), zinc (Zn), and precious metals as metallic
constituents. This mixture is fed into copper smelters. During
smelting, Pb, Sn, Sb, and precious metals are collected in the copper

parent phase. This is casted in to anode slab and refined by

electrometallurgy. Here, the anode is dissolved and pure (99.99 %)
copper is deposited over cathode leaving a slurry residue. This
slurry residue is called anodic slime and contains undissolved
metallic fractions. It is rich in valuable metals like Au, Pt, lead, tin,
and antimony. These metals are recovered from slurry using
hydrometallurgical techniques.
 b) Combustion of e-waste

Here, E-waste is subjected to open burning in uncontrolled manner

which releases all sorts of pollutants in to atmosphere. Hence, this
method is highly dangerous for the environment and also increases
the health risk of the workers.

c) Incineration of e-waste

Incineration is a controlled combustion of the waste with suitable

emission units. The incinerator has two connected furnaces. In the
first furnace, e-waste is burnt at temperatures above 800°C and in
the second stage for the gaseous products of the first incinerator are
further oxidized above 1100°C. Heavy metals are collected in the
bottom and fly ash. Hydrometallugical processes are used for further
recovery of metals.
Both these methods are not advisable, due to pollutant gas emission
and low metal recycling performance.

d) Pyrolysis of e-waste

Pyrolysis is a thermal decomposition of e-waste at higher

temperatures in an oxygen-free environment. Here irreversible
thermal decomposition reactions take place, leading to the
formation of low-molecular products (gases and liquids) at
temperatures between 450 and 1100°C. Pyrolysis gases, oils, and
char can be used as fuel and chemical feedstock. The metallic
components can be recovered easily by separation. Main danger
with this process is release of toxic halogens into atmosphere with
flue gases.

e) Molten salt process

In this process, the e-waste is fed in with the salt, and salt is melted
at the desired temperature under an inert atmosphere. The organic
parts decompose in the molten salt forming carbonates and silicates,
halogens are converted into alkali metal halides and are trapped in
molten salt. Hence, the flue gas contains a high content of H2 (g)
that can be stored as a fuel. The metallic component is collected on
the bottom of the furnace. After removing molten salt, mixture
containing valuable metals is further treated to obtain pure metals.
This process operates at temperatures between 300 and 1100°C
depending on the requirement.

2. HYDROMETALLURGICAL PROCESS

This process involves three stages:

a) Pretreatment stage.

b) Chemical treatment stage.

c) Metal recovery stage.

a) Pretreatment stage
Pretreatment stage involves physical separation of metal
components from e-waste followed by smelting of the mixture in
some cases.
In chemical treatment stage, the metals are made to leach into
solutions using different leaching reagents. In the metal recovery
stage, metals are recovered from the leached solutions using
different methods. These techniques are as follows:

b) Chemical treatment stage

1. Cyanide Leaching

Even though, cyanide solutions are toxic, they are mainly used
to leach gold metal. S o d i u m s a l t o f 3-nitrobenzene sulfonic acid
with p o t a s s i u m c y a n i d e ( KCN) i n p r e s e n c e o f o x y g e n
i s u s e d t o dissolve gold under aerated condition. Further, the same
solution can be subjected to electrodeposition to obtain pure gold
metal. Copper also readily dissolves in cyanide solutions.
 2. Acid Leaching

Mineral acids such as nitric acids, sulfuric acids, and

hydrochloric acids are used for leaching of targeted metals. A few
organic acids such as ascorbic acids, citric acids, and acetic acids
are also used to leach light metals from spent batteries and mobile
devices. Li is leached from Lithium ion battery waste by treatment with
citric acids and hydrogen peroxide as reducing agent.

3. Thiosulphate Leaching

Thiosulphate is used an alternative leaching agent to cyanide

leaching agent for the recovery of precious metals like gold and
silver. Ammonium thiosulfate solution is used to dissolve gold,
silver, platinum, and other precious metals. It forms anionic stable
complexes with the target metal. This reagent is safe, non-toxic,
non-corrosive and metal can be recovered readily from the complex.

4. Thiourea Leaching

Thiourea is a sulfur-based organic complexing agent that forms a

cationic soluble complex with the target metal. Thiourea gives
quick rates of leaching, is environmentally friendly, and has a low
cost. Thiourea is not stable in alkaline environment; hence the
reaction requires an acidic media. In printed circuit boards, the gold
and silver selectively forms a metal-thiourea cationic complex.

5. Halide Leaching

Chloride, bromide, and iodide ions can be used to leach gold from
the PCB waste as a replacement for cyanide leaching agents. They
exhibit in high solubility, improved redox potentials, and high rates
of leaching. They are cheaper, selective to the target, and ideal
leaching agents.

c) Metal recovery stage

In this stage, pure metal is recovered from leached metal solution. A
variety of methods such as solvent extraction, ion exchange,
adsorption, precipitation, and cementation are available depending
upon the nature of leached solution.
i. Solvent extraction
In this method, leaching solution is treated with an organic solvent
in a separating funnel. It results in two phase system. Metal is
extracted from leached solution phase to organic phase.
Eg: Methyl-iso-butyl ketone is used as an organic solvent for gold.
Diamine extracts are used for platinum and palladium.

ii. Electrodeposition

In this technique,
 Pure metal same as metal to be extracted is taken as cathode
and inert metal is used as anode and are dipped in leaching
solution.
 When current is applied, pure metal is electrodeposited on
cathode.
Lead, tin, and copper from PCBs can be recovered by leaching
followed by electrodeposition. They have the advantages of high
efficiency, low environmental impact, and cost-effectiveness.

iii. Ion Exchange

This is an improved version of solvent extraction method. Here,

solvent extracting reagents are impregnated on polymer beads. The
functional group of reagents acts as selective binding site to metal
ions. Thus, they can be used for selective recovery of the desired metal
ion. Some advantages of using ion exchange resins for recovery of
metals are their ease to use, no loss of reagent, no separation of phases,
low cost, use in low concentrations of metal ions and environmental
safety.
It is used for recovery of palladium group metals in hydrochloric
acid. Ion exchange resins have found to be effective in recovering
gold from cyanide and thiosulfate leach solutions.
iv. Adsorption

Metals can be recovered from leached solutions by adsorption on

appropriate adsorbents. Activated carbon is found to be effective
adsorbent. The adsorption of gold on activated carbon from cyanide
solutions is an efficient, cost-effective process.

Thus, using appropriate combination of pyro metallurgical and

hydrometallurgical techniques metals can be extracted economically
from e-waste. This will not only prevent leaching of metals into
ecosystem, it will also contribute to environment sustainability.

EXTRACTION OF GOLD FROM E-WASTE

Gold metal has good electric conductivity and chemical stability,

and hence it is used for making integrated circuits of electronic
devices, coating for contacts and connectors.
Among the e-waste, PCBs are rich in metals. It contains around
35% Cu, 0.16% silver, and 0.13% gold, by weight. Several
techniques are employed to recover precious metals from e-waste
among which hydrometallurgical route is more economical. It
involves three stages.
(1) Pretreatment stage.

(2) Chemical treatment stage.

(3) Metal recovery stage.

Pretreatment stage
In the pretreatment step, e-waste is manually dismantled to separate
various fractions like metals, ceramics, plastics, wood, and paper.
Techniques such as gravity separation, electrostatic separation,
magnetic separation, and eddy current separation are used to
separate metals from other fractions.

Chemical treatment stage

In this targeted metals are leached into solution by treating with
appropriate chemical reagents.
Cyanide leaching is the most common method used to extract gold
metal. Sodium salt of 3-nitrobenzene sulfonic acid with Potassium
cyanide (KCN) in the presence of oxygen is used as leaching agent.
A water-soluble dicyanoaurate gold complex is obtained in the
process.

Metal recovery stage

In the last step, metal is recovered from leached solutions. Gold can
also be extracted from leaching solution by electrodeposition of gold
from dicyanoaurate gold complex. Pure gold metal taken as cathode
and inert anode are dipped in leached solution. When current is applied,
gold is electrodeposited on cathode.

DIRECT RECYCLING OF E-WASTE

Electronic components are harvested directly from e-waste without

breaking them further into small components. Harvested
materials are further processed to regenerate recycled materials.
The regenerated materials have performance equivalent to originally
manufactured materials.

This method doesn’t involve chemical and metallurgical steps, and

hence it requires less amounts of energy and reagents. Therefore, it
is the most environmentally friendly method. Drawback of this
method is that direct regeneration of components depends on
state-of health of used electronic materials. Defects and
impurities accumulated during usage could affect the quality of the
refurbished active material.

For direct recycling of lithium ion batteries, the battery is

discharged first to avoid short circuiting and self-ignition of battery
and dismantled to separate anode, cathode, electrolyte and separator.
These components are not dismantled further, but each component
is regenerated by appropriate process to recover its function. These
components are reassembled for reuse.
ROLE OF STAKE HOLDERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL
MANAGEMENT OF E-WASTE (PRODUCERS,
CONSUMERS, RECYCLERS, AND STATUTORY
BODIES).

Four stakeholders in environmental management of the e- waste are:

1. Statutory Government Regulatory bodies,

2. Producers (Manufacturing units)

3. Recyclers

4. Consumers.
The E-waste management program is designed by statutory
Government regulatory bodies. The members of the body frame the
policies and execute it for protection of environment. All four stake
holders must work in tandem form effective e-waste management.

1. Statutory Government Regulatory bodies

The statutory bodies play a pivotal role in management of e-waste.

Main roles of statutory bodies are:

a) To collect the green tax from consumer though producer.

b) Apply some extra charges on the producers (manufacturing units)

in the form of penalty when no proper recycling of e-waste is
assured from manufacturing units.
c) Provide the incentives in the form of subsidy to recyclers and
collectors when recycling of e-waste is monitored properly.
d) To conduct the programs of awareness in the society about
importance of e-waste recycling in reduction of hazardous
substances.
2. Producers (Manufacturing units)

The main roles of producers in management of e-waste are:

a) The accountability to collect green tax.

b) Charging an additional amount on consumer during sell of e-

products and returning it with interest at the time of exchange
 of e- product.
c) Forming the group of manufactures who monitor and
encourage the recycling of e-waste.
d) Bearing the transportation cost and collection fees to ease the
collection process.
e) Purchase the recycled material at fixed value and using of
recycled e-waste during manufacturing.
f) Giving discount to consumer on the basis of e-waste generated
from gadget.

3. Recyclers (Recycling units and Collection units)

The main roles of recyclers in management of e-waste are:

a) The accountability of recycling units is dismantling, recycling

processing of e-waste materials, management of scrap materials
(like incineration) and reselling of recycled materials.
b) Establish the collection units for door to door collection.
c) Collect the e-waste from the collection units, dealer or retailer.

d) Providing incentives when proper collection of e-waste is assured

by collection units.
4. Consumer

The main roles of consumer in management of e-waste are:

a) The accountability to pay green taxes.

b) Develop self-awareness on e-waste management and involve in

awareness programs.
c) Returning back of e-waste to collection units.