Recovery of copper from electronic waste: An energy transition approach to decarbonise the industry

被引：1

作者：

Torrubia, Jorge ^{[1
,2
]}

Parvez, Ashak Mahmud ^{[1
]}

Sajjad, Mohsin ^{[1
]}

García Paz, Felipe Alejandro ^{[1
]}

van den Boogaart, Karl Gerald ^{[1
,3
]}

机构：

[1] Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden - Rossendorf e.V. (HZDR), Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HIF), Chemnitzer Str. 40, Freiberg

[2] Research Institute for Energy and Resource Efficiency of Aragón (Energaia) - University of Zaragoza, Campus Río Ebro, Mariano Esquillor Gómez, 15, Zaragoza

[3] Institut für Stochastik, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Prüfer Str. 9, Freiberg

来源：

Journal of Cleaner Production | 2024年 / 485卷

关键词：

Circular economy; Copper recovery; Energy transition; Life cycle assessment; Waste PCB; WEEE;

D O I：

10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.144349

中图分类号：

学科分类号：

摘要：

Copper is essential for a decarbonised economy, yet its production remains heavily dependent on primary extraction processes which still rely on fossil fuels. Thus, there is growing interest in recovering copper from secondary sources, such as waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Moreover, the potential for utilising renewable resources in copper recycling remains unexplored. Therefore, this study applied FactSage and HSC Chemistry software to model and simulate the pyrometallurgical route for copper recovery from copper scrap and waste printed circuit boards (WPCB). OpenLCA was employed for a life cycle assessment (LCA) of three scenarios: (i) conventional, (ii) green hydrogen, and (iii) hydrogen produced using grid electricity. The results showed that the carbon footprint of copper production was reduced by 71–96% in the conventional scenario (0.3–0.5 kg-CO2-eq./kg-Cu) and by 93–97% in the green hydrogen scenario (0.1–0.2 kg-CO2-eq./kg-Cu) compared to primary production. However, the use of hydrogen produced with grid electricity resulted in a significant increase in the carbon footprint, even exceeding the conventional scenario. Therefore, the integration of renewable energy sources is crucial for achieving low-emission secondary copper production, contributing to a cleaner metal supply for the energy transition. © 2024 The Author(s)

引用

共 49 条

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