abstract
Modern societies depend strongly on electronic and electric equipment (EEE) which has a side effect result on the large production of electronic wastes (e-waste). This has been regarded as a worldwide issue, because of its environmental impact-namely due to non-adequate treatment and storage limitations. In particular, EEE is dependent on the availability of rare earth elements (REEs), considered as the vitamins of modern industry, due to their crucial role in the development of new cutting-edge technologies. High demand and limited resources of REEs in Europe, combined with potential environmental problems, enforce the development of innovative low-cost techniques and materials to recover these elements from e-waste and wastewaters. In this context, sorption methods have shown advantages to pre-concentrate REEs from wastewaters and several studies have reported the use of diverse nanomaterials for these purposes, although mostly describing the sorption of REEs from synthetic and mono-elemental solutions at unrealistic metal concentrations. This review is a one-stop-reference by bringing together recent research works in the scope of the application of carbon nanomaterials for the recovery of REEs from water.
keywords
SOLID-PHASE EXTRACTION; HEALTH-RISK ASSESSMENT; GRAPHENE OXIDE; AQUEOUS-SOLUTIONS; GRAPHITE OXIDE; IONIC LIQUIDS; MINING AREAS; ADSORPTION; PRECONCENTRATION; EU(III)
subject category
Science & Technology - Other Topics; Materials Science
authors
Cardoso, CED; Almeida, JC; Lopes, CB; Trindade, T; Vale, C; Pereira, E
our authors
acknowledgements
This work is funded by national funds (OE), through FCT-Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, I.P., in the scope of the framework contract foreseen in the numbers 4, 5 and 6 of the article 23, of the Decree-Law 57/2016, of August 29, changed by Law 57/2017, of July 19; and the University of Aveiro, FCT/MEC for the financial support to CESAM, CICECO and CIIMAR [UID/AMB/50017/2013; UID/CTM/50011/2013; UID/Multi/04423/2013; UID/Multi/04423/2019], through national funds and, where applicable, co-financed by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement.