Environ Sci Pollut Res (2016) 23:2438424392
DOI 10.1007/s11356-016-7695-9
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Leaching of metals from large pieces of printed circuit boards
using citric acid and hydrogen peroxide
Umesh Jadhav 1 & C. Su 1 & Hong Hocheng 1
Received: 9 May 2016 / Accepted: 12 September 2016 / Published online: 22 September 2016
# Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016
Abstract In the present study, the leaching of metals from
large pieces of computer printed circuit boards (CPCBs) was
studied. A combination of citric acid (0.5 M) and 1.76 M
hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was used to leach the metals from
CPCB piece. The influence of system variables such as H2O2
concentration, concentration of citric acid, shaking speed, and
temperature on the metal leaching process was investigated.
The complete metal leaching was achieved in 4 h from a
4 4 cm CPCB piece. The presence of citric acid and H2O2
together in the leaching solution is essential for complete met-
al leaching. The optimum addition amount of H2O2 was
5.83 %. The citric acid concentration and shaking speed had
an insignificant effect on the leaching of metals. The increase
in the temperature above 30 C showed a drastic effect on
metal leaching process.
Keywords Citric acid . Hydrogen peroxide . Large printed
circuit board piece . Metal leaching
Introduction
The waste from electrical and electronic equipment (E-waste)
is becoming the fastest growing waste stream due to the
Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article
(doi:10.1007/s11356-016-7695-9) contains supplementary material,
which is available to authorized users.
* Hong Hocheng
hochengh@gmail.com
1
Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua
University, No. 101, Sec. 2, Kuang Fu Rd, 30013 Hsinchu, Taiwan,
Republic of China
increasing demand and shorter life cycles (Arshadi and
Mousavi 2014). E-waste has an annual growth rate of 35 %
(Tuncuk et al. 2012). Among the E-waste, the printed circuit
boards (PCBs) are the main carriers of valuable and hazardous
metals. It contains base metals such as copper (Cu), lead (Pb),
nickel (Ni), tin (Sn), and zinc (Zn). It also contains valuable
metals such as silver (Ag), gold (Au), and palladium (Pd). E-
waste is generally very complex and may have a variation in
composition (Cayumil et al. 2014). This makes the metal
leaching process complicated. At present, E-waste is inade-
quately disposed of in landfills or burnt openly. This produces
dioxins and furans and generates harmful waste residues/
runoff that contaminate the soil, water, and air (Cayumil et al.
2014; Askari et al. 2014). Leaching of metals from E-waste is
of particular importance not only for sustainability in waste
management but also for meeting an ever-increasing demand
for these metals and conservation of rapidly depleting natural
resources (Arshadi and Mousavi 2014; Askari et al. 2014).
The industrial treatment plants for leaching of metals from
E-waste are based on pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgi-
cal processes. The pyrometallurgical processes have certain
disadvantages. Only a partial separation of metal can be acced-
ed by the pyrometallurgical process. The pyrometallurgical
processes which are essentially designed for base metals are
not efficient for leaching of precious metals (Yazici and Deveci
2014). In recent years, the hydrometallurgical processes
attracted particular attention for the treatment of E-waste.
Several researchers showed the effectiveness of strong acids
as leachant for leaching of metals (Tuncuk et al. 2012; Mecucci
and Scott 2002; Kinoshita et al. 2003; Park and Fray 2009;
Yang et al. 2011; Akcil et al. 2015). However, the release of
Cl2, SO3, NOx, and the acidic wastewaters during the leaching
process are a threat to the environment. Therefore, there is a
need for the development of environmentally friendly hydro-
metallurgical processes for future applications. Use of organic
acids, specifically citric acid, is a suitable alternative. Several
researchers have used citric acid and H2O2 for leaching of
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2016) 23:2438424392
metals from scrap battery paste, sewage sludge, and waste
lithium cobalt battery (Sonmez and Kumar 2009; Li et al.
2010a,b). Citric acid dissolves in water easily. It degrades un-
der aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Therefore, the waste
solutions generated after metal leaching can be treated easily
(Li et al. 2010a,b). Li et al. (2010a) used H2O2 along with citric
acid for leaching of metals from waste lithium cobalt batteries.
The H2O2 is an effective oxidant with its high reduction po-
tential of 1.78 V. Previously, it has been used extensively as the
oxidant in acid sulfate solutions for leaching of metals from
waste PCB powder (Yazici and Deveci 2014; Yang et al. 2011;
Birloaga et al. 2013; Deveci et al. 2010). The combination of
citric acid and H2O2 has not been tried yet for leaching of
metals from waste PCB. The present work is an attempt to
develop a hydrometallurgical process that uses an environmen-
tally friendly acid along with H2O2 for metal leaching from
waste PCB. All the previously reported methods used pulver-
ized PCB samples (Mecucci and Scott 2002; Kinoshita et al.
2003; Park and Fray 2009; Yang et al. 2011; Akcil et al. 2015).
The use of large pieces of PCB for metal leaching will facilitate
the reuse of the remaining board (non-metallic part), which
otherwise will be difficult while using pulverized PCBs
(Adhapure et al. 2013, 2014).
Materials and methods
Materials
All the chemicals were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich.
Collection of CPCBs
The PCBs of computer (CPCB) were collected from the local
scrap market. Attached plastic parts, viz. RAM, PCI slot, and
chip slots, were removed manually from PCBs. The CPCBs
were cut into 4 4 cm size.
Determination of metal content of CPCBs
Aqua regia was used to fully leach the metals from the CPCB
specimens. Following the filtration of the digestion solution,
the metal concentrations were determined by inductively
coupled plasma resonance spectroscopy (ICP). The average
metal content of the CPCBs is shown in Table 1.
Removal of chemical coating of CPCBs
The CPCBs have a chemical coating (solder mask). The com-
monly used material for solder mask is epoxy. The solder
mask covers the metals mounted on CPCBs and does not
allow the leaching agent to penetrate through it for leaching
of metal. In the present study, the chemical coating of CPCBs
24385
Table 1 Metal content
of PCB Sr. no. Metal Metal content (mg/g)
1 Cu 116.56 (0.45)
2 Zn 33.20 (0.58)
3 Sn 10.00 (0.23)
4 Ni 9.40 (0.21)
5 Pb 8.50 (0.37)
6 Fe 0.84 (0.004)
7 Al 0.243 (0.012)
8 Ag 0.022 (0.001)
9 Pd 0.009 (0.0006)
10 Au 0.0073 (0.0001)
was removed using the method described by Adhapure et al.
(2014). The CPCBs were dipped overnight in a 10 M sodium
hydroxide (NaOH) and then washed under running tap water
(Fig. 1). The washed water was replaced by fresh distilled
water until the adhered NaOH was removed. This was moni-
tored by determining the pH of washed water. Neutral pH of
washed water confirms the complete removal of NaOH
(Adhapure et al. 2014). The washed CPCBs were then used
for further study. The samples were analyzed for metal content
after NaOH treatment. The ICP analysis showed that during
the NaOH treatment, around 790 (0.68), 28 (0.013), 20
(0.008), 9.5 (0.001), 5 (0.0004), 0.20 (0.003), and 0.10
(0.001) g/g Al, Zn, Sn, Fe, Pb, Cu, and Ni were dissolved,
respectively, from CPCB piece. No dissolution of Ag, Pd, and
Au was observed during the NaOH treatment (Fig. 1c). Due to
the NaOH treatment, the Al content decreased to 0.243
(0.012) mg/g (Table 1). As compared to the average metal
content of CPCBs (Table 1), a small fraction of the Zn, Sn, Fe,
Pb, Cu, and Ni was lost during the NaOH treatment.
Leaching procedure
All the metal leaching experiments were carried out by im-
mersing CPCB piece (4 4 cm) in a mixture of citric acid and
H2O2 solution in 500-ml beakers. Two control experiments
were carried out to study the metal leaching from CPCB.
For the first control experiment, the leaching solution
contained 100 ml deionized-distilled water and H2O2. In the
second control experiment, the leaching solution contained
100 ml citric acid solution only. The process parameters were
optimized as described in below sections.
Effect of H2O2 concentration on metal leaching
The effect of H2O2 concentration on the metal leaching from
CPCB piece was studied. The citric acid solutions (100 ml)
were prepared at the required strengths (1 M) in various bea-
kers. Then, various concentrations of H2O2 (1.457.28 %)
24386
Fig. 1 Appearance of CPCB
piece a before removal of
chemical coating and b after
removal of chemical coating,
using NaOH solution, and c the
amount of metals leached after
NaOH treatment
Front side
(a) Before NaOH treatment
(c) Metal extraction during NaOH
treatment
were added. The CPCB pieces were added to these beakers.
The beakers were kept for incubation in an incubator at static
condition and 30 C temperature for 4 h.
Effect of citric acid concentration on metal leaching
For this study, the 100 ml citric acid solutions were prepared in
varying concentrations (0.52 M) separately in various bea-
kers. The 5.83 % H2O2 was added. Then, the CPCB pieces
were added to these beakers. The beakers were kept for incu-
bation in an incubator at static condition and 30 C tempera-
ture for 4 h.
Effect of shaking speed on metal leaching
A study has been carried out to find the effect of shak-
ing speed on the metal leaching from CPCB piece. For
this study, the CPCB pieces were covered with 100 ml
of 0.5 M citric acid solution and 5.83 % H2O2. Then,
the beakers were incubated in an incubator under two
conditions. For one set of experiments, the beakers were
kept in a static incubator, while for another set of ex-
periments, the beakers were kept in an orbital shaking
incubator at 150 rpm, 30 C temperature for 4 h.
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2016) 23:2438424392
Back side
24 h, at Room Temperature,
static condition, 10 M NaOH
Front side Back side
(b) After NaOH treatment
Effect of temperature on metal leaching
The effect of temperature on the metal leaching from CPCB
piece was studied. The CPCB pieces were immersed in
100 ml of 0.5 M citric acid and 5.83 % H2O2 in 500-ml
beakers. These beakers were incubated at various tempera-
tures (3060 C) and at static condition for 4 h.
Analytical techniques
The samples were taken at scheduled intervals during the metal
leaching experiments and sent for ICP analysis to determine the
metal content. Samples were prepared by taking 0.1 ml sample.
The samples were diluted to 10 ml using 1 % nitric acid
(HNO3) to get 100 times diluted sample for analysis. The ICP
instrument used was Agilent Model-7500ce. The ICP ratio fre-
quency power used was 1.5 kW. The plasma gas flow rate was
maintained at 15 l/min. On the other hand, the auxiliary flow
rate and nebulizer flow rate were maintained at 0.8 and 0.95 l/
min, respectively. The reflected power was <5 W. The stan-
dards were prepared according to the concentration of analysis
elements. The 1000 ppm of each standard element (high purity)
was taken for standard preparation. The 1 % HNO3 was used to
prepare different concentration of standard and to get a calibra-
tion curve. All tests were performed in triplicates. The change
in surface appearance of CPCB before and after the leaching
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2016) 23:2438424392
process was investigated by scanning electron microscope
(SEM) tests using SEM instrument model: JSM-7000F of
Japan Electron Optics Laboratory Co., Ltd. (JEOL). The sam-
ples were kept on a silicon wafer chip. Then, the samples were
mounted on a holder to the chamber. The accelerating voltage
used was 0.530 kVat the resolution of 30 to 250,000 (10 kV,
WD 10 mm). An elemental composition of the sample was
determined by energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis.
The EDS instrument used was INCA Energy (Oxford
Instruments). To run the EDS analysis, the magnification was
kept similar to SEM. The spectrum acquisition setup was set as
default. Then, the process was run to acquire the spectra from
the selected area within the acquisition time and region. The
high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis was car-
ried out to detect peroxycitric acid. The HPLC instrument used
was ACCUTOF LC-PLUS (model JMS-T100LP). The 100 l
sample was taken and mixed with 500 l methanol in sample
bottle. The solvent used was methanol. The needle voltage,
chamber temperature, and flow rate used were 2200 V,
100 C, and 0.1 ml/min, respectively.
Results and discussion
Metal leaching from large CPCB piece using citric acid
in combination with H2O2
In the present study, experiments were carried out for the
leaching of metals from large pieces of CPCBs. Citric acid
was used as lixiviant. To enhance the metal leaching, the
H2O2 was used along with citric acid. In the present attempt,
the effect of addition of H2O2 to the leaching solution during
metal leaching process was studied. Figure 2 shows the
leaching of metals from the large CPCB piece. The CPCB
piece was covered with a metallic layer before the metal
leaching experiment (Fig. 2a). Complete leaching of metals
was readily achieved in 4 h, using 100 ml citric acid (1 M) in
combination with 5.83 % H2O2, at static condition and 30 C
temperature (Fig. 2b). The ICP analysis also confirmed the
100 % leaching of all the metals from CPCB piece (Fig. 2d).
For this study, two controls were used. In one control ex-
periment, the 5.83 % H2O2 was mixed with 100 ml distilled
water. The use of only H2O2 had a little effect on metal
leaching. The 0.9 (0.0001) and 0.5 (0.0006)% metal
leaching were achieved for Cu and Al, respectively, using
H2O2 in 4 h. The metal leaching for Fe, Ni, Zn, Pb, and Sn
metals was below 0.1 %. No dissolution of Ag, Pd, and Au
was observed using H2O2 in 4 h (Fig. 2c). For the other control
experiment, the 100 ml citric acid (1 M) solution was used
without the addition of H2O2. The 13 (0.074) and 1.3
(0.058)% metal leaching were observed for Al and Fe using
citric acid in 4 h. The metal leaching for Sn, Pb, Cu, Ag, Ni,
and Zn metals was below 1 %. No dissolution of Pd and Au
24387
was observed using citric acid in 4 h (Fig. 2e). The control
experiment with only H2O2 underlines the necessity of the
presence of chelating or acidic agent for metal leaching.
Similar observations were reported by Kolenk et al.
(2013). At the same time, the control experiment with only
citric acid shows that the presence of an oxidant is essential for
the dissolution of metals. These results are in accordance to
Deveci et al. (2010), who showed the importance of the pres-
ence of oxidant in metal leaching process. Hence, the presence
of both citric acid and H2O2 is essential for complete metal
leaching. Another experiment was carried out to study the
metal leaching efficiency from epoxy-coated CPCB. The
lixiviant used was citric acid and H2O2. Figure 3a, b shows
the appearance of epoxy-coated CPCB before and after
leaching process. The Cu was leached in more amounts,
whereas no leaching of Ag and Au was observed during the
leaching process (Fig. 3). The amount of metals leached from
epoxy-coated CPCB was very less as compared to uncoated
CPCB (Figs. 2 and 3). These results suggest that the epoxy
coating interferes the metal leaching process. The lixiviant
does not reach the metals present under epoxy coating on
CPCB. Therefore, it is necessary to remove the epoxy coating
from CPCB to facilitate the faster metal leaching process.
Possible mechanisms for metal dissolution
The metal dissolution from E-waste can be explained using
several mechanisms. The possible mechanism for the system
using only H2O2 can be explained as follows. The H2O2 can
act as an oxidant or a reductant in its reactions with metals. A
generalized mechanism for metal oxidation by H2O2 can be
proposed as per the following reaction (Moffett and Zika 1987),
Ms H2 O2aq M2 aq OH OH 1
Ms OHM2 aq OH 2
M stands for metal.
Organic acids dissolve metals by supplying protons and
ligands. They can dissolve the metallic fractions of E-wastes
by acidification and complexation. Organic acid dissociates to
donate H+ for proton-promoted dissolution process (Wasay
et al. 2001; Goyne et al. 2010; Saidan et al. 2012; Steer and
Griffiths 2013).
RCOOH H2 ORCOO H3 O 3
The reduction of protons generates hydrogen and oxidizes
the metal,
2H3 O 2e H2 2H2 O 4
MM2 2e 5
24388 Environ Sci Pollut Res (2016) 23:2438424392

Front side Back side Front side Back side Front side Back side
Distilled water (100 ml) + H2O2 (20 ml) 1 M citric acid (100 ml) + H2O2 (20 ml) 1 M citric acid (100 ml)

(a) Before Leaching

Front side Back side Front side Back side Front side Back side

Distilled water (100 ml) + H2O2 (20 ml) 1 M citric acid (100 ml) + H2O2 (20 ml) 1 M citric acid (100 ml)

(b) After Leaching

(c) (d) (e)

Fig. 2 Effect of only H2O2, only citric acid, and a combination of H2O2- amount of metals leached after treatment with a combination of H2O2-
citric acid (1 M) on leaching of metals from the 4 4 cm CPCB piece a citric acid. e The amount of metals leached after citric acid (1 M)
before treatment and b after 4-h treatment, at static condition and 30 C treatment
temperature. c The amount of metals leached after H2O2 treatment. d The

In a complexation mechanism, the ligands in organic acids, whereby two electrons are consumed by each peroxy carboxyl
for example, citrate (Cit) from citric acid, form stable metal group (COOOH) [24].
complexes. The complexation reaction can increase the solu-
bility of metals in the solution (Wasay et al. 2001; Goyne et al. RCOOOH M 2HRCOOH H2 O M2 8
2010; Saidan et al. 2012; Steer and Griffiths 2013):
In another possible mechanism, the metals from E-waste
 
can form metal hydrogen citrate in the presence of H2O2 and
RCOO M H3 O RCOOM H2 O 6
citric acid as per the following reaction:
M stands for metal; R stands for organic substituent group. C6 H8 O7 M H2 O2 MC6 H6 O7 H2 O M2
The results of the present study show low leaching of Citric acid Metal hydrogen citrate
metals using either H2O2 (Fig. 2b, c) or only citric acid 9
(Fig. 2b, e) in 4 h. The enhanced capacity of metal leaching
by organic acid in the presence of H2O2 is possibly due to the The 100 % leaching of all the metals from CPCB piece
formation of peroxy carboxylic acid (Li et al. 2012). using 100 ml citric acid (1 M) in combination with
5.83 % H2O2 supports these mechanisms (Fig. b, d2). A
RCOOH H2 O2 RCOOOH H2 O 7
HPLC analysis of leaching solution was carried out to
identify the correct mechanism. The peak at 207.04 rep-
Peroxy carboxylic acids are powerful oxidants that could resents peroxycitric acid (data not shown). The HPLC
readily oxidize the metal. Similar to H2O2, their instability in analysis also shows that the lixiviant contains citric acid
aqueous solution leads to a spontaneous decomposition (peak at 191.04) in more amounts (data not shown). There
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2016) 23:2438424392
Front side Back side
(a) Before Leaching
Front side Back side
(b) After Leaching
(c)
Fig. 3 The leaching of metals from epoxy-coated CPCB piece. a
Appearance of CPCB before treatment. b Appearance of CPCB after
4-h treatment. c The amount of metals leached after treatment with a
combination of H2O2-citric acid
is a possibility that the peroxycitric acid is converted to
citric acid during the metal leaching process (as per the
reaction 8). These results suggest that the production of
peroxycitric acid is responsible for major metal leaching
from CPCB. These results are in accordance with Kumar
et al. (2014). In their study, Kumar et al. (2014) showed
that in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, the sulfuric
a c i d f o r m e d p ero x y s u l fu ri c aci d (H 2 S O 5 ) . Th i s
peroxysulfuric acid is a strong oxidizing agent. It oxidized
and dissolved copper and other metals from waste PCB
(Kumar et al. 2014).
The SEM and EDS analysis
The SEM and EDS analysis were carried out to further
prove the complete metal leaching from CPCB piece
using citric acid and H2O2. Figure 4a shows SEM analysis
24389
of CPCB piece before leaching. This CPCB piece
contained a layer of copper on its surface. An individual
elemental composition determined by EDS showed the
presence of Cu, carbon (C), and oxygen (O) (Fig. 4b).
The Cu, C, and O content were 89.67, 7.36, and
2.97 %, respectively (data not shown). The CPCB piece
was treated with the citric acid and H2O2. The SEM and
EDS analysis confirm the complete metal leaching from
CPCB piece after leaching process (Fig. 4c, d). A rough
surface of CPCB piece is clearly visible in SEM analysis
(Fig. 4). Further, the EDS analysis of this surface showed
the presence of only C and O (Fig. 4d). The C and O
content were 71.96 and 28.04 %, respectively (data not
shown).
Effect of H2O2 concentration on metal leaching
There are many factors that influence the metal leaching
process such as the amount of H2O2 added, citric acid
concentration, shaking speed, and leaching temperature.
Experiments were carried out to optimize these parame-
ters. The effect of H 2 O 2 concentration on the metal
leaching from the CPCB piece was investigated. The
CPCB piece of 4 4 cm was leached with 1 M citric acid
solution at static condition and 30 C for 4 h. The results
are presented in Fig. 5. The metal leaching increased sig-
nificantly with an increase in the concentration of H2O2.
The 5.83 % H2O2 was found optimum for complete metal
leaching from CPCB piece. These results are in accor-
dance to Birloaga et al. (2013). Further increase in H2O2
amount has insignificant effect on metal leaching. These
results suggest that the metal leaching efficiency depends
on H2O2 concentration. Similar results were reported by
Li et al. (2010a,b).
Effect of citric acid concentration on metal leaching
The effect of citric acid concentration on the metal
leaching was studied. The concentration of citric acid
varied from 0.5 to 2 M. The metal leaching process
was carried out using 5.83 % of H2O2 at 30 C tem-
perature and static condition for 4 h. The concentration
of citric acid has no effect on metal leaching. Complete
metal leaching was achieved in 4 h for all the citric
acid concentrations used (data not shown). Birloaga
et al. (2013) reported that increasing the sulfuric acid
concentration did not improve the leaching of Cu and
Zn. In contrast to these results, Li et al. (2010a,b) found
that the leaching efficiency decreased with an increase
in organic acid concentration. Considering these results,
0.5 M citric acid concentration was used in further ex-
periments. For this study, the concentration of H2O2
(5.83 %) was kept constant, while citric acid
24390 Environ Sci Pollut Res (2016) 23:2438424392

Fig. 4 The SEM analysis

showing change in surface
appearance a before leaching and
c after leaching and EDS analysis
showing elemental composition b
before leaching and d after
leaching

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

concentration was varied. The results of the present
study show that the major mechanism responsible for
metal leaching was the formation of peroxy carboxylic
acid. Since the concentration of H2O2 was kept con-
stant, the amount of peroxy carboxylic acid produced
might remain the same irrespective of concentration of
citric acid. Therefore, increasing the citric acid
concentration showed no positive effect on metal
leaching from CPCB pieces.
Effect of shaking speed on metal leaching
Experiments were carried out at static condition and at
150 rpm, to study the effect of shaking speed. The

Fig. 5 Effect of H2O2

concentration on amount of
metals leached from CPCB piece
of size 4 4 cm at static condition
and 30 C temperature, after 4 h
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2016) 23:2438424392
shaking speed has no influence on metal leaching process.
Complete metal leaching was achieved at static condition
as well as at 150 rpm (data not shown). In contrast to
these results, Birloaga et al. (2013) showed that increase
in shaking speed had a negative effect on metal leaching
process.
Effect of temperature on metal leaching
Li et al. (2010a,b) suggested that the temperature significantly
affected the metal leaching process when organic acid and
H2O2 were used as leachant. Therefore, in the present study,
the effect of temperature on the metal leaching process was
studied at static condition, using 0.5 M citric acid and 5.83 %
H2O2. An increase in temperature above 30 C caused the
vigorous reaction, and the metal leaching was stopped due
to loss of leaching solution (data not shown). The reason be-
hind this is unclear. Therefore, 30 C temperature was consid-
ered optimum for metal leaching process.
Economics of the present process
The leaching solution used in the present study contained
0.5 M citric acid (100 ml) and 5.83 % H2O2. The rough cost
for preparing this leaching solution was 1.94 USD. The pro-
cess cost of the present study is lower as compared to a
bioleaching process described by Adhapure et al. (2014).
They incubated a 12 6 cm PCB piece with a mixed microbial
culture in 1 l 9K medium containing 45 g ferrous sulfate. For
their process, they required 2.93 USD to obtain the leaching
solution. This bioleaching process also required 10 days of
incubation, which further increased the cost of the process
due to the need for a constant supply of electricity.
Therefore, the process proposed in the present study requires
low capital investment than the bioleaching process proposed
by Adhapure et al. (2014). In a previous study, it was found
that 0.263 USD is needed to leach metals from 4 4 cm PCB
piece using 1 M HCl solution. But in that study, it took 22 h
for complete metal leaching (Jadhav and Hocheng 2015b).
Also, according to Samina et al. (2011), corrosion activity of
HCl is more as compared to organic acids. Therefore, for
industrial applications, the use of the corrosion-resistant ma-
terials in the construction of the leaching equipment is a must
to use HCl as a leaching agent. Also, special measures need to
be taken for the protection of workers. All these factors can
increase the process cost using HCl. According to Li et al.
(2010a,b), it is important to develop a simple and environmen-
tally acceptable metal recycling process for the sustainable
management of natural resources and to reduce environmental
pollution. The proposed process satisfies these criteria and has
great potential for large scale application.
24391
Conclusion
CPCBs are a rich source of metals such as Cu, Zn, Al, Sn, and
Fe. The purity and amount of metals contained in waste
CPCBs are higher than those in rich-content minerals.
Therefore, the recycling of waste CPCBs is useful not only
for resource recovery but also for the protection of the envi-
ronment. The results of the present study indicated that a com-
bination of organic acid and H2O2 was as efficient as using
inorganic acids. Also, it was significantly more effective than
bioleaching process. The presence of both citric acid and
H2O2 together was found to be essential for metal leaching.
Complete metal leaching was achieved from a 4 4 cm CPCB
piece, using 0.5 M citric acid, 5.83 % H2O2, and a leaching
temperature of 30 C, in 4 h, at static condition. The use of
large pieces of CPCBs made the metal leaching process sim-
ple. It overcomes many of the drawbacks of using powdered
CPCBs for leaching of metals. Moreover, it helped to recycle
and reuse the CPCBs after complete leaching of metals which
was not possible by using powdered CPCBs.
Acknowledgments The current research is supported by the National
Science Council of Taiwan under contract MOST 103-2221-E-007-136-
MY3.
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