Recycling of Discarded Tantalum Capacitors for Metal Recovery

The massive generation of electronic waste presents an opportunity for resource recyclingRecycling. Discarded tantalumTantalum capacitorsCapacitor contain 30–35 wt.% tantalumTantalum, which is tightly encapsulated in an epoxy housing. TantalumTantalum recyclingRecycling is necessary due to scarcity, finite resources, and geopolitical constraints. PyrolysisPyrolysis effectively degrades the epoxy resin and liberates the tantalumTantalum-rich sintered core from the outer resin. The manganese (MnO2) was removed from the core using mild acid leaching to concentrate tantalumTantalum in the leach residue. PyrolysisPyrolysis temperature (550–700 °C) influences the transformation of MnO2 to lower oxides, thereby affecting its dissolution. The decomposed epoxy housing consists mainly of silica and silver, which is subjected to density separation. The metallic enrichment in the underflow fraction is limited due to finer silver particles. Nearly, 100 g capacitorsCapacitor can yieldYield 34 g of Ta, equivalent to 0.28 tons of primary ore.