Novel Process for Tin Recovery from Waste Print Circuit Boards (WPCBs) by Selective Oxidation Roasting Under H2O Atmosphere

Waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs)Waste Printed Circuit Boards (WPCBs) are crucial secondary resourcesSecondary resource that contain a large number of valuable metals (Cu, Sn, Ti, Ni, Ag, Au, etc.), which have enormous recoveryRecovery value. Current methods of extractive metallurgyExtractive metallurgy have been principally focused on recovering copper and precious metals, with tin being largely overlooked. However, research has shown that the oxidation of tin to SnO(g) by H2O(g) is a viable option. This study presents a new process for selectively recovering tin from WPCBsWaste Printed Circuit Boards (WPCBs) via oxidative roasting under H2O(g) conditions. Thermodynamic analysisThermodynamic analysis was used to investigate the transformation and regulation of metallic tin to gaseous SnOSnO. It showed that tin could be highly selectively separated from WPCBsWaste Printed Circuit Boards (WPCBs). The volatilization of Sn reaches 95.2% under optimal experimental conditions. In addition, copper and noble metals were enriched in the roasted residues and could be used for copper smelting.