Recent scenario of e-waste recycling: chemical engineering

Abstract

Abstract The exponential growth of electronic waste pollution, including outdated electrical equipment, is a significant environmental and health concern. To protect the ecosystem from e-waste contamination, chemical engineering with its prominent processes such as leaching, pyrolysis, etc. can take a leading role in resource recovery, eco-friendly waste management, and sustainable e-waste recycling. This review presents a detailed analysis of e-waste recycling technologies from the chemical engineering perspective. Several smart solutions are discussed for managing and recovering important e-waste components, including semiconductor chips, metals (Pb, Al, Steel, Ni, Ag, Au, Pd), rare-earth minerals, etc. Various metals recovered by electro-winning from cell phones, and integrated circuits, can be used to produce corrosion-resistant appliances, IoT (Internet of Things) devices like sensors, and robotics related to chemical sciences. This paper concentrates on strategies for recovering materials that can be used to make chemical engineering equipment and IoT devices, along with the roadblocks and potential connected with these strategies. This study compares the various e-waste recycling procedures on photoelectronic trash from the last few years. The paper also focuses on green upcycling and effective e-trash management from discarded keyboards into value-added goods like musical tools and innovative artistic sculptures and also from seawater. This paper portrays the pyrometallurgical and valorization of digital rubbish such as printed circuit boards (PCBs), reactors, and transistors for e-waste-based nanorobots. This review also emphasizes the difficulty of managing the growing amounts of e-waste globally and the damaging effects on the environment and human health caused by improper disposal.