Abstract Global generation of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is increasing quickly. Metals from WEEE can be recovered by using unit operations of chemical engineering. This paper describes a combined hydrometallurgical route (sulfuric oxidant leaching + solvent extraction) to recover copper from printed circuit boards (PCBs). A non-magnetic fraction from comminuted PCBs was used to perform leaching tests at 75ºC for 6 hours in an oxidizing media (sulfuric acid + hydrogen peroxide). In order to separate zinc, aluminum, and copper from the leaching liquor, solvent extraction tests were carried out using D2EHPA. Parameters that influence the process, such as pH, extractant concentration, and the aqueous/organic (A/O) ratio were investigated. Solvent extraction experiments were carried out in two stages: i) separation of zinc, aluminum, and residual iron, and ii) copper separation. The results showed that the leaching obtained around 60% aluminum, 94% copper, 76% zinc, 50% nickel and residual iron from the non-magnetic fraction of PCBs. With the solvent experiments, in the first stage, 100 wt.% zinc, iron and aluminum were extracted at pH 3.5, 2:1 A/O, 10 % (v/v) D2EHPA, while, in the second stage 100% of the copper was extracted at pH 3.5, 1:1 A/O, 20 % (v/v) D2EHPA.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo avaliar a biossorção de metais presentes em uma amostra sintética de drenagem ácida de mina, determinando o tempo de equilíbrio, a quantidade de metal captado e removido e, também, as mudanças ocorridas na biomassa. Para tanto, os ensaios foram realizados mantendo-se constantes a temperatura (25ºC), o pH (2,6), a concentração de biomassa (1g.L-1) e sob agitação de 175rpm. Como biossorvente foi utilizada uma massa fixa de bactérias gram-positivas Rhodococcus opacus no estágio de morte que foi crescida em meio YMA (yeast mannitol agar), durante 24h, a 28ºC e sob agitação de 150rpm. Após o processo biossortivo as amostras foram centrifugadas: o sobrenadante foi analisado através de análise de absorção atômica e a biomassa foi caracterizada através análises de microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV). Os resultados mostraram que a captação máxima ocorre em torno de 1 minuto e representa 48,2mg.g-1, o que corresponde a aproximadamente 11,7% de remoção. As mudanças verificadas nas análises de MEV indicam que houve interação entre os íons metálicos e a biomassa.

This study aims to evaluate metal biosorption in an acid mine drainage (AMD) synthetic sample by determining the equilibrium time, the amount of metal captured and removed, and also the biomass changes. For this, tests were performed with parameter constants: 25ºC temperature, 2.6 pH, 1g.L-1 biomass concentration, and at 175rpm shake. The gram-positive bacterium Rhodococcus opacus was used as biosorbent, after having been grown in YMA (yeast mannitol agar) for 24h at 28ºC and shaken at 150rpm. After the biosorptive process, samples were centrifuged: the supernatant was analyzed by atomic absorption and the biomass was characterized by analysis of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that maximum uptake time occurs in about 1 minute, when the maximum uptake was 48.2mg.g-1, which corresponds to approximately to 11.7% of the total removal. The changes observed in the SEM indicate that there are interactions between metal ions and biomass.