M. Tatariants “Solvent treatment of waste printed circuit boards and subsequent reprocessing into high added value products” doctoral dissertation defence

Author, Institution: Maksym Tatariants, Kaunas University of Technology

Science area, field of science: Technological Sciences, Environmental Engineering T 004

Scientific Supervisor: prof. dr. Gintaras Denafas (Kaunas University of Technology, Technological Sciences, Environmental Engineering T 004).

Scientific Advisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmed Samy Yousef Saed (Kaunas University of Technology, Technological Sciences, Mechanical Engineering T 009)

Dissertation Defence Board of Environmental Engineering Science Field:
Prof. Dr. Habil. Jurgis Kazimieras Staniškis (Kaunas University of Technology, Technological Sciences, Environmental Engineering T 004) – chairman,
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dalia Jankūnaitė (Kaunas University of Technology, Technological Sciences, Environmental Engineering T 004),
Prof. Dr. Habil. Maris Klavinš (University of Latvia, Natural Sciences, Chemistry N 003),
Prof. Dr. Kerstin Kuchta (Hamburg University of Technology, Germany, Technological Sciences, Environmental Engineering T 004),
Prof. Dr. Egidijus Šarauskis (Vytautas Magnus University Agricultural Academy,Technological Sciences, Environmental Engineering T 004).

The doctoral dissertation is available at the libraries of Kaunas University of Technology (K. Donelaičio g. 20, Kaunas), Vytautas Magnus University (K. Donelaičio g. 52, Kaunas) and at Lithuanian Energy Institute (Breslaujos   g. 3, Kaunas).

Annotation:

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is rich in many metals such as Copper (Cu), Tin (Sn), Lead (Pb), Aluminum (Al), etc. as well as precious metals like Gold (Au) and Palladium (Pd). Waste Printed Circuit Boards (WPCBs), being a type of WEEE, contain most of these metals; WPCBs themselves represent 10 wt.% of E-waste stream and are composed of ~30 wt.% metallic fraction and ~70 wt.% non-metals (fiberglass and epoxy resin). The focus of the current doctoral dissertation was on the investigation of using solvent treatment for separation of all components of WPCBs and reprocessing of extracted materials into high added-value products. Firstly, experiments on WPCB separation were performed to find optimum process conditions, characterize the recovered materials, to adapt the technology for full-sized WPCBs (e.g. motherboard), etc. Second part of experiments was concerned with additional purification of recovered metallic fraction and production of various micro- and nanomaterials by several methods, their characterization and evaluation of economic and environmental benefits. The thesis is aimed at developing a solvent treatment approach for recovery of materials from WPCB that would provide tangible benefits compared to the approaches, traditionally used in this field (incineration, pyrolysis, acid leaching, etc.).