Global market trends of tantalum and recycling methods from Waste Tantalum Capacitors: A review

• The rapid digitalization of the world, technological up-gradation, and shorten life cycle of electronic gadgets leading to the generation of an enormous amount of waste tantalum capacitors (WTCs) rich in tantalum every year. The need of the hour is to develop an effective way to recycle tantalum from these waste scraps considering the scarcity of tantalum, environmental impacts, resource and energy utilization, and lower recycling rates. In this paper, various existing methods of recovery of metallic tantalum from WTCs have been extensively reviewed. Processes have been examined in light of recovery efficiency, purity of the resultant product, process complexity, and limitations. The bottleneck in the recovery of tantalum from WTCs is the presence of tightly covered mold resin over the surface of the tantalum anode. Various researchers have recovered Ta with varying degrees of success. Pyrolysis, followed by chloride metallurgy, has been proven to be an effective technology on account of its high removal rate, resource and energy utilization, and lesser environmental impacts. This article also explores the global scenario of tantalum. Overall this review provides a foundation to understand the potential barrier and various opportunities associated with the recovery of tantalum from WTCs.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Naturresursteknik -- Annan naturresursteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Environmental Engineering -- Other Environmental Engineering (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Naturresursteknik -- Miljöledning (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Environmental Engineering -- Environmental Management (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Naturresursteknik -- Energisystem (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Environmental Engineering -- Energy Systems (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Ionic liquid

Waste tantalum capacitors (WTC)

Tantalum recovery

Supply chain

Pyrolysis

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