Lok Sabha Question No. 3099 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-19
Subject: e-Waste Management
Ministry: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Ms Kangna Ranaut, Smt. Himadri Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3099 (TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.03.2025)

## E-WASTE MANAGEMENT

3099.  SMT. HIMADRI SINGH: MS. KANGNA RANAUT:

Will the Minister of SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  Council  of  Scientific  and  Industrial  Research  (CSIR)  has developed any technology solution to manage e-wastes; and
- (b)
- if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR THE

MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES

## (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

- (a)&(b)  Yes,  Sir.  Council  of  Scientific  and  Industrial  Research  (CSIR)  has developed  a  few  technology  solutions  to  manage  e-wastes.  CSIRNational Metallurgical Laboratory (CSIR-NML), Jamshedpur -a constituent laboratory of CSIR has developed the following technologies/processes to manage e-waste:
-  Recovery  of  Gold  from  Waste  Mobile  Phones  and  Scraps  of  various Equipment: A process has been developed for the dissolution of metal from the PCBs of waste mobile phone, small parts of various equipment containing  gold  on  the  outer  layer.  Chemical  leaching  followed  by
- adsorption/ cementation with subsequent heat treatment was used to recover 99% gold.
-  Recovery of Cobalt from Discarded Li-ion Batteries of Mobile Phone: A process  has  been  developed  for  the  dissolution  of  metals  from discarded lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) of mobile phones. Diluted sulfuric acid in presence of an oxidant was used to leach out ~70-80% cobalt along with other metals in 60 min at elevated temperature. Leach liquor generated was further processed through solvent extraction, precipitation,  crystallization/  electro-winning  techniques  to  recover cobalt as salt/ metal.
-  Recovery of Neodymium as a Value Added Product from Waste Hard Disk  of  Personal  Computers:  A  process  has  been  developed  for  the recovery  of  neodymium  as  value  added  product  from  magnets  of discarded hard disk. Under optimized condition, sulfuric acid leaches 98% Nd, 97% Fe, 60% Ni and 7.5% B. Acid leaching was followed by selective precipitation of Nd and leaching of the precipitate with 5-20% HF solution.
-  Recycling of spent/used/discarded lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries  for  recovery  of  Lithium,  iron  and  phosphorus:  With  acid leaching using 10-20% solids, 98-100% Li, Fe and P could be extracted. The leach liquor was subjected to selective sequential precipitation route  to  extract  90-95%  pure  lithium  as  lithium  carbonate/lithium hydroxide  and  98%  pure  iron  phosphate.  Purified  graphite  was  a derivative in the process. The developed process recovers lithium in most desired marketable form, apart from iron phosphate. The derived values can be used for multiple applications apart from new battery manufacturing.
-  Recovery  of  Lithium,  Nickel,  Cobalt,  Manganese  and  Graphite  from Spent/Used/Discarded Lithium-ion Batteries of mixed chemistries: With acid  leaching  using  20-30%  solids,  94-96%  Li,  Co,  Ni  and  Mn,  was extracted.  The  leach  liquor  was  subjected  to  selective  sequential multistage solvent extraction and precipitation route to extract >9699.9%  multiple  variant  pure  salts  of  lithium,  nickel,  cobalt  and manganese. High pure graphite is a derivative product of the process. The process enables recovery of  acid  and  reagents.  The  developed technology  can  extract  critical  elements  like  Lithium,  Cobalt  and

Nickel apart from manganese as salts in most desired marketable form, with holistic recycling to result in reusable graphite. For generic value, an  estimate  of  100kg  of  spent  laptop  LIBs  gives  25kg  electrode material, from which 5.7 kg Cobalt sulfate, 0.69 kg Lithium Hydroxide, 0.51 kg Nickel Carbonate, 5.4 kg Manganese Carbonate, 0.5 kg Alumina Powder  and  12  kg  graphite  powder  can  be  separated.  CSIR-NML, Jamshedpur has also developed a pilot scale facility to dismantle and recycle LIBs at 1TPD scale. This facility is capable of processing all LIBs to synthesise metal salts suitable for new battery making.

Further, CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (CSIR-IMMT), Bhubaneswar-  a  constituent  laboratory  of  CSIR  has  also  developed following process flowsheets for the management of e-waste:

-  Process flowsheet  for  recovery  of  valuable  metals  from  the  Printed Circuit Boards: A process flowsheet for the recycling of the e-waste was developed following mechanical separation and hydrometallurgical route. The flotation technique (a physico-chemical separation  method)  was  used  to  separate  hydrophilic  metallic  and hydrophobic non-metallic particles. The fine metallic particles subjected for copper leaching. The residue obtained from the copper leaching  circuit  was  subjected  for  tin  and  precious  metal  recovery circuit.
-  Process flowsheet for the recovery of Nd and Pr and other Rare Earth Elements  (REEs):  The  process  flowsheet  was  developed  for  the recovery  of  Nd  and  Pr  and  other  REEs  from  waste  NdFeB  magnet, scrap, etc. present in the electronics.

******