Dissolution of base metals from wpcbs using Na₂S₂O₈ solution

The present work aimed to evaluate the performances of Cu, Zn and Ni dissolution from Waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) obtained from mobile phones (MP) using different solid:liquid ratios (SLR) and oxidant concentration (C_ox). It was found that the increase of C_ox at constant SLR increases more the performances of Zn and Ni dissolution than it does for Cu. In contrast, the increase of SLR from 1:5 to 1:15 at constant C_ox diminished the dissolution efficiency of Ni by 79 %, of Zn with 55 % and in the case Cu by 22 %. The experimental results revealed that the most favorable conditions for the dissolution of Zn, Ni and Cu are provided at the SLR of 1:5 and 0.42 M Na₂S₂O₈.