The environmental assessment of two new copper recovery processes from Waste Printed Circuit Boards

The main purpose of the present paper is the quantitative evaluation of the environmental impact of two original processes for recovering copper from Waste Printed Circuit Boards (WPCBs). Both electrochemical processes involve the dissolution of copper from WPCBs with its simultaneous electroextraction from the resulting leaching solutions. The first process uses direct electrochemical oxidation while the second one achieves the dissolution of copper through mediated electrochemical oxidation using the Fe3+/Fe2+ redox couple. The Biwer–Heinzle method is applied to determine the environmental impact of the processes in the established optimum conditions. The values of the General Environmental Indices, calculated for the inputs and for the outputs, are quite small, close to the minimum possible, indicating an overall low environmental relevance of the substances used in these processes. •We evaluated the environmental impact of two new copper recovery processes.•The processes environmental assessment was made using the Biwer–Heinzle method.•Due to the low environmental impact both processes are suitable for industrial use.