7-2-3 Recovery of resources from end-of-life printed circuit board by using steam gasification

Abstract

Steam gasification using carbonate mixture was an effective technology to recover useful resources from end-of-life electronic devices under relatively mild condition. The carbonates mixture accelerated conversion from char or tar to hydrogen remarkably, and slight amount of the carbonate mixture was enough to remove plastics in the e-waste. In the steam gasification of a practical waste computer mother board, copper, gold, other useful metals were recovered easily.