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US 9,215,813 B2Granted
Method for recycling of obsolete printed circuit boards
AssigneeAdvanced Technology Materials, Inc.
InventorsAndré Brosseau, Svitlana Grigorenko, Ping Jiang, Michael B. Korzenski
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Abstract
Processes for recycling printed wire boards using environmentally-friendly compositions, wherein electronic components, precious metals and base metals may be collected for reuse and recycling.
Claims26
A method of recovering at least one precious metal from a printed wire board (PWB) comprising solder and at least one precious metal, said method comprising:
- (a) contacting a surface of the PWB with a first composition, wherein the PWB and the first composition are in a first vessel;
- (b) agitating said first vessel;
- (c) dissolving or solubilizing the solder in the first composition, wherein the first composition selectively removes the solder relative to the at least one precious metal;
- (d) removing the first composition from the PWB by rinsing;
- (e) drying the PWB;
- (f) contacting the PWB with a leaching composition, wherein the PWB and the leaching composition are in a second vessel;
- (g) producing agitation in said second vessel;
- (h) dissolving or solubilizing the at least one precious metal in the leaching composition;
- (i) removing the leaching composition from the PWB by rinsing;
- and
- (j) recovering the at least one precious metal from the leaching composition,
- wherein the first composition is substantially devoid of at least one of fluoride salts, ferric salts, titanium (IV) salts, abrasive material, fluoroboric acid, and ferric nitrate.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.