Summary
Electronic waste contains numerous precious metals, woven together. However, recent technical advances do not allow them to be efficiently recovered and processed. In Orléans, a group of ICAR, CEMHTI and BRMG researchers have developed a solution to this problem with the use of water, in what is known as a "supercritical" state. When this water is heated in a reactor it reaches extreme temperatures and has a powerful corrosive effect. The device was tested on circuit boards, with the aim of removing the resin used to mount the electronic components, leaving only the metals. The researchers plan on replicating this process with other materials. The results of the experiment on the material used and the study of the gas which formed as a result of the supercritical water process have attracted the attention of researchers.
