Copper Recovery Assessment from Tubular Led Lamp Strips

The technology of LED lamps has revolutionized the lighting market, stimulating its consumption. Consequently, a generation increasing of this type of waste is observed, LED lamps are composed of carcass, PCBs, strips and LEDs. The lamps have metals with economic potential for recycling. Al and Cu are the main metals in strips and can be recycled through hydrometallurgical techniques. Thus, this work aims to evaluate the possible recovery of Cu from tubular led lamps strips. The first stage of the study is the strips characterization through chemical analysis by ICP-EOS, and SEM. The next stage is the leaching thermodynamic simulation using FactSage 8.0 software. The strips characterization showed contents of 88% of Al and 8.5% of Cu. The thermodynamic simulation shows possible selective leaching of Cu against Al, under the following conditions: HNO₃, pH 3–3.8, Eh above 0.55, and 25 °C; and NH₃, pH 7–10, Eh −0.15 to 0.6, and 25 °C.