Critical metal identification from waste electronics

• Main Author: Li, Wen Jie
• Other Authors: Alex Yan Qingyu
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Engineering::Materials
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/171821
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Due to the Surge increase in electronic products, electronic waste is dramatically increased annually. Wasted electronics can be an environmental hazard as there are numerous metals involved that are toxic to humans and the ecosystem. Researchers and industrial practitioners have tried to recover metals from electronic waste; however, the process seems technically difficult. The barrier leading to the conventional recycling process being non-economic and non-technical feasible is attributed to the low content of rare critical metals and their high dispersion. In this research, various types of thick film resistors (TFRs) were disassembled from waste printed circuit boards (PCBs) and analyzed respectively. The targeting critical metal is Ruthenium (Ru). Multiple characterization methods, including Scanning Electron Microscope-Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES), and X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF), were involved in determining its qualitative and quantitative data. This research provides a view on Ru content and distribution in TFRs and overall PCBs. It supports the basis to further study the recycling methods of such critical metal from waste electronics.