Nowadays the short lifecycle of electronic devices combined with the unrelenting advancement in modern technology has made the generation of electronic waste (e-waste) a major environmental problem.1 One of the most diffused component of electronic equipment are printed circuits boards (PCBs) which usually contains precious metals like Cu, Ni, Fe, Au, some of which are also present in the EU Critical Raw Material list.2 Copper is widely used in catalysis, for example, as tuner of aluminosilicates catalytic properties. These materials, especially zeolites, are commonly used as acid catalysts for methanol-to-olefins (MTO) reaction thanks to their strong acid sites, but the reaction course could be also driven to methanol-to-dimethyl ether (MTD) decreasing the strength of the acid sites. The first step of this work was to test copper as tuner of the acidic properties of a commercial zeolite (ZSM-5) employed in MTO/MTD reactions. Especially, MTD reaction is helpful for the ecological transition because it makes possible to obtain dimethyl ether (DME), which can be used as a green fuel, alternative to diesel, owing to its high cetane number and low NOx emissions; from a feedstock (methanol) obtainable from biomass or syngas.3 The obtained results show that copper-loaded ZSM-5 allow to obtain DME as main component of the product mixture, while employing zeolite ZSM-5 as catalyst, no DME was produced, only olefins. The second step of this work was dedicated to test a novel material as catalyst, which was prepared using mesoporous silica MCM-41 functionalised with organic ligands to selectively recover copper from lixiviate of PCBs powder. Indeed, for this study, PCBs from old and disposed computers were collected, crushed and lixiviate. The as-prepared materials were characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), N2 adsorption-desorption analysis and Temperature Programmed Desorption (TPD).
Copper recovered from waste printed circuit boards as catalytic drive for methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether / Derobertis, F., Boos, A., Bertagnolli, C., Louis, B., Mastrorilli, P., Dell’Anna, M.M.. - (2025), pp. 47-47. (III Convegno Nazionale della DTC-SCI e XIV Convegno Nazionale AICIng Milazzo 1-4/09/2025).
Copper recovered from waste printed circuit boards as catalytic drive for methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether
F. Derobertis;P. Mastrorilli;M. M. Dell’Anna
2025
Abstract
Nowadays the short lifecycle of electronic devices combined with the unrelenting advancement in modern technology has made the generation of electronic waste (e-waste) a major environmental problem.1 One of the most diffused component of electronic equipment are printed circuits boards (PCBs) which usually contains precious metals like Cu, Ni, Fe, Au, some of which are also present in the EU Critical Raw Material list.2 Copper is widely used in catalysis, for example, as tuner of aluminosilicates catalytic properties. These materials, especially zeolites, are commonly used as acid catalysts for methanol-to-olefins (MTO) reaction thanks to their strong acid sites, but the reaction course could be also driven to methanol-to-dimethyl ether (MTD) decreasing the strength of the acid sites. The first step of this work was to test copper as tuner of the acidic properties of a commercial zeolite (ZSM-5) employed in MTO/MTD reactions. Especially, MTD reaction is helpful for the ecological transition because it makes possible to obtain dimethyl ether (DME), which can be used as a green fuel, alternative to diesel, owing to its high cetane number and low NOx emissions; from a feedstock (methanol) obtainable from biomass or syngas.3 The obtained results show that copper-loaded ZSM-5 allow to obtain DME as main component of the product mixture, while employing zeolite ZSM-5 as catalyst, no DME was produced, only olefins. The second step of this work was dedicated to test a novel material as catalyst, which was prepared using mesoporous silica MCM-41 functionalised with organic ligands to selectively recover copper from lixiviate of PCBs powder. Indeed, for this study, PCBs from old and disposed computers were collected, crushed and lixiviate. The as-prepared materials were characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), N2 adsorption-desorption analysis and Temperature Programmed Desorption (TPD).I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
