2023-07-30 22:00:00
High-tech products, LCD screens, smartphones, rechargeable batteries, light-emitting diodes, solar cells, printed circuit boards for washing machines, etc., which accompany our daily lives, require metals that are sometimes not very abundant in the earth’s crust and/or whose production is controlled by a limited number of countries such as China, the Democratic Republic of Congo or Brazil. In an attempt to limit the depletion of natural resources and deal with the risks linked to the situations of oligopoly or quasi-monopoly to which these metals are subject, the European Union has turned to other supply routes. and in particular towards the recycling of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). Rare (In, Ga), critical (precious metals) or strategic (Ta), they are sometimes more abundant in the urban mine that this waste constitutes, than in their geological mine.
In addition to its economic interest, the recycling of WEEE can be an interesting resource, making it possible to secure supplies of metals while preserving the environment for which they constitute a source of pollution. Extractive metallurgy processes already proven or innovative processes, many options are available for the recycling of WEEE. Nevertheless, their performance on an industrial scale is difficult to assess due to their still uncertain maturity in this context, and the discretion of companies which, most of the time, do not even reveal the metals they recycle.
After having given some elements of terminology of the metals involved in the fight once morest climate change, this article describes their origin and their importance in our daily lives. Thus, with regard to their availability in the environment, the extent of the needs we have for them and the geopolitical, economic and environmental issues that result from them, various current and developing industrial recycling routes for WEEE which contain it are proposed there.
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