The article draws attention to the problem of the presence of metals: germanium (Ge), tellurium (Te), thallium (Tl), and others (Cd, Ba, Co, Mn, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Sr, and Zn) in selected waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). As a result of the growing demand for new technologies, the global consumption of TECs has also been increasing. Thus, the amount of metals in circulation, of which the impacts on the environment have not yet been fully understood, is constantly increasing. Due to the low content of these metals in WEEE, they are usually ignored during e-waste analyses. The main aim of this study was to determine the distribution of Ge, Te, and Tl (and other elements) in ground sieve fractions (1.0, 0.5, 0.2, and 0.1 mm) of selected electronic components (solar lamps, solar cell, LED TV screens, LCD screens, photoresistors, photodiodes, phototransistors) and to determine the possible tendency of the concentrations of these metals in fractions. This problem is particularly important because WEEE recycling processes (crushing, grinding, and even collection and transport operations) can lead to dispersion and migration of TCE pollutants into the environment. The quantitative composition of e-waste was identified and confirmed by ICP-MS, ICP-OES and SEM-EDS, and XRD analyses. It was found that Ge, Te, and Tl are concentrated in the finest fractions of ground e-waste, together with Cd and Cr, which may favor the migration of these pollutants in the form of dust during storage and processing of e-waste.

Automotive catalytic converters have a limited life time, after which the catalyst must be replaced or regenerated. The spent catalytic converters contain small amount of precious metals. Recovery of these metals is essential for environmental and economic reasons. The waste electronic equipment is also an attractive source for recovery of precious metals. Precious metals in electronic scraps are concentrated mainly in printed circuits and integrated circuits - so generally in elements that are the most diverse in their composition. Material heterogeneity of these elements is the reason why there is no universal method for processing this type of scrap. Methods used in the world for recovery of precious metals from spent auto catalytic coverters and electronic wastes by pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical methods were mentioned in this paper. The results of simultaneous melting of electronic waste with spent automotive catalysts were presented. The printed circuit boards were used as the carrier and as a source of copper. The precious metals present in the catalyst were collected in copper.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of static, stirring and shaking conditions on copper, zinc, nickel and aluminium dissolution from printed circuit boards (PCBs) using the mixed acidophilic bacterial culture of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans. The results revealed that static conditions were the most effective in zinc and aluminium dissolution. Zinc was removed almost completely under static conditions, whereas maximum of nickel dissolution was reached under the stirring conditions. The highest copper recovery (36%) was reached under stirring conditions. The shaking conditions appeared to be the least suitable. The relative importance of these systems for the bioleaching of copper and nickel decreased in the order: stirring, static conditions, shaking.

Today recovery of platinum from used auto catalysts has become a necessity due to great demand for this catalytic metal. There are many methods of recovering platinum from used catalysts on the market, one of them is the original collector metal method using the magneto-hydrodynamic (mhd) pump. This method is based on the continuous flow of the collector metal (lead) in the channel of the device, which can be obtained by using the mhd pump at the device operating temperature of 673 K. Proper selection of process parameters such as power frequency (25–100 Hz), inductor current density (20 A, 40 A, 60 A), gaps between the inductor and the liquid metal channel (2,4,8), flow velocity, secondary voltage (19 V, 40 V, 60 V) ensures proper efficiency of the device. Some parameters were selected on the basis of numerical simulations, others were experimentally verified—the tests were carried out for different washing out times (600 s to 3600 s), and different secondary voltage and inductor supply frequency (25 Hz to 45 Hz). Platinum washing out efficiency of up to 98% was obtained with a relatively short washing out time and low values of secondary voltage and inductor frequency. To improve the efficiency of the process, the thermal efficiency of the device was increased by 8% by insulating the cover of the device. Further modifications to the process include changing the collector metal—preliminary studies show that the addition of lithium increases the extraction of platinum from thin catalytic layers as a result of reduced surface tension of the extraction liquid. The preliminary results of the PbLi alloy spread on platinum coated surface seem to be very promising.