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Recycling of Materials from Computer Waste
Review Article | Published: 17 August 2025
ICCK Transactions on Advanced Functional Materials and Processing Volume 1, Issue 2, 2025: 32-46
Volume 1, Issue 2, ICCK Transactions on Advanced Functional Materials and Processing
Volume 1, Issue 2, 2025
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ICCK Transactions on Advanced Functional Materials and Processing, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2025: 32-46

Open Access | Review Article | 17 August 2025
Recycling of Materials from Computer Waste
by
Chun Kit Chan Chun Kit Chan 1
Alokesh Pramanik Alokesh Pramanik 1 *
Animesh K. Basak Animesh K. Basak 2
S. Shankar S. Shankar 3
1 School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Curtin University, Perth 6102, Australia
2 Adelaide Microscopy, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
3 Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Erode 638060, India
* Corresponding Author: Alokesh Pramanik, [email protected]
DOI: 10.62762/TAFMP.2025.802278
Received: 06 March 2025, Accepted: 26 May 2025, Published: 17 August 2025  
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Abstract
As new and innovative products with more functions, effectiveness and efficiency are introduced to the market continuously, the lifespan of existing products and equipment are becoming shorter and shorter before they are discarded. Therefore, significant amounts of electronic waste (e-waste) are mainly disposed of in the landfill. This study investigates the recycling of e-waste and recovering precious metals from computer components based on the information available in the literature. The manual dismantling, pre-processing and smelting techniques are discussed and elaborated. Among these techniques smelting/end-processes are employed to collect metals using several methods such as hydrometallurgy, pyrometallurgy and bio metallurgy are analysed critically. It was found that the dismantling techniques depends on the type of appliances, but the pre-processing techniques are almost independent on the appliance or types of metals to be collected. The smelting/end-processes and types of chemicals used depend on the metals to be recovered. The appropriate recycling processes and methods can be used to minimize the negative impacts that e-wastes have brought. In general, bio metallurgy is the most environmentally friendly technique to recover metals though this technique is very selective, less efficient and minor contaminating.
Graphical Abstract
Recycling of Materials from Computer Waste
Keywords
recycling
electronic waste
metal recovery
waste management
Data Availability Statement
Not applicable.
Funding
This work was supported without any funding.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate
Not applicable.
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APA Style
Chan, C. K., Pramanik, A., Basak, A. K., & Shankar, S. (2025). Recycling of Materials from Computer Waste. ICCK Transactions on Advanced Functional Materials and Processing, 1(2), 32–46. https://doi.org/10.62762/TAFMP.2025.802278
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