Recycling of gold from electronics: Cost-effective use through 'Design for Recycling'
Recycling of gold from electronics: Cost-effective use through 'Design for Recycling'
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DOI：
10.1007/bf03214988
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发表时间：
2010-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.2
通讯作者：
Corti, Christopher W.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hagelueken, Christian;Corti, Christopher W.
由于每年有超过300吨黄金用于电子产品，报废的电子设备为黄金的二次供应提供了重要的回收潜力。由于手机和电脑电路板的含金量分别达到300-350克/吨和200-250克/吨，这种“城市矿”的含金量比原生矿石丰富得多。然而，废金产品中的“矿物学”与金矿中的常规矿石有很大不同：多达60种不同的元素在复杂的组合和子组合中紧密相连，这需要经过广泛的废气处理的特殊冶金工艺，以经济高效和对环境无害的方式回收金和各种其他金属。此外，与初级供应链相比，将废旧产品“挖掘”和“运输”到选矿厂并进一步运往冶炼厂的物流要具有更大的挑战性。目前，只有一小部分旧产品被收集并引导到最先进的回收链中。废旧电子产品的含金量对回收黄金和许多其他有价值金属的经济意义并不总是得到认可，这影响了在为新产品选择材料时的“回收设计”方法，特别是在欧盟，在那里WEEE指令旨在提供一种闭环经济。再生黄金的碳足迹低于原始开采的黄金，因此是一种重要的“绿色”资源。讨论了回收电子废料以实现闭环经济所面临的挑战。
With over 300 tonnes of gold used in electronics each year, end-of-life electronic equipment offers an important recycling potential for the secondary supply of gold. With gold concentrations reaching 300-350 g/t for mobile phone handsets and 200-250 g/t for computer circuit boards, this "urban mine" is significantly richer than what is available in primary ores.However, the "mineralogy" in scrap products is much different than in the conventional ores in a gold mine: Up to 60 different elements are closely interlinked in complex assemblies and sub-assemblies, and this requires specialised metallurgical processes with extensive offgas treatment to recover gold and a wide range of other metals cost effectively and in an environmentally sound way. Moreover, the logistics to "excavate" and "haul" the scrap products to the concentrator and further to the smelter are much more challenging than in the primary supply chain. Currently, only a small portion of old products is collected and directed into state-of-the art recycling chains. Significant improvements are needed here to fully utilise this secondary metal resource.The importance of the gold content of scrap electronics to the economics of recovery of gold and many other valuable metals is not always appreciated and this impacts on the 'design for recycling' approach in selecting materials for new products, particularly in the European Union where the WEEE Directive aims to provide a closed loop economy. With a lower carbon footprint than primary-mined gold, recycled gold represents an important 'green' source. The challenges faced in recycling electronic scrap to achieve a closed loop economy are discussed.