Different approaches for sustainable recovery of precious metals from electronic wastes: Techno-economic evaluation and future perspectives

Abstract

Nowadays, it is estimated that approximately 50–60 million metric tons of electronic waste (e-waste) is produced all around the world, in which modern countries are responsible for the generation of almost half of them. Therefore, finding novel, green and environmentally-benign techniques for the sustainable recovery of precious metals (PMs) from e-waste has been an interesting topic of research in many industries. Ionic liquids (ILs) and deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have recently been considered as green solvents that can overcome the detrimental effects of traditional organic solvents on environment. This review study intends to exhaustively discuss the current advancements toward the use of various types of ILs and DESs on the recovery of PMs for overcoming the challenges of sustainable supplement. As another highlight of this review paper, a detailed techno-economic analysis has been done and then after, the operational privileges and environmental effects of the PMS recovery techniques using ILs and DESs were discussed comprehensively. At the end, future perspectives and considerations to enhance the sustainability of PMs recovery technologies have been proposed.