Characterization of Printed Circuit Boards of Obsolete (PCBs) Aimed at the Production of Copper Nanoparticles

Electronic components, such as printed circuit boards (PCBs), have elements in their composition that present economic value like copper, silver, gold and nickel, besides the metals that are harmful to the environment and to health as lead, mercury and cadmium. Aiming at the recovery of metals for economic purposes and, thus, preventing their inadequate disposal in the environment, the present study presents a route of physical and chemical characterization used to determine the amount of metals present in the PCBs (motherboards) aiming the production of nanoparticles copper. For this, as PCBs were dismantled for later comminution in a knife mill with the opening phases of 9, 3 and 2 mm. Fire-fighting tests were performed for the determination of polymer weakness and digestion acid to determine the concentration of metals present. After characterization of the plates, it was possible to determine that 43% corresponds to the metallic fraction of which 21.5% were copper. After characterization of the boards, it was possible to determine that 43% corresponds to the metallic fraction of which 21.5% were copper.