Life cycle assessment in the recycling of waste printed circuit boards and lithium-ion batteries: systematic literature review

Abstract

This research aims to analyze life cycle assessment (LCA) studies covering recycling of printed circuit boards (PCB) and lithium-ion batteries from waste electrical and electronic equipment. The method of systematic literature review was used in addition to structured content analysis, to extract relevant data from 22 peer-reviewed scientific articles. The results show that the research topic is expanding, indicating an increased trend in research in the future. Most lca studies are focused on contexts of developed countries, indicating a research need in developing countries. The results of the content analysis point that most studies carried out LCA of PCB recycling, indicating that investigations in lithium-ion battery recycling processes are scarce in the literature. The treatment methods with the highest number of lca studies are pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical. New techniques such as bioleaching, physical recycling, relitiation, and functional recycling have been found, however, it is needed to perform more studies on the environmental impacts of these recycling methods.