Spent liquid crystal display panel processing by hydrometallurgical methods

Rapid technological development has caused considerable growth of the liquid crystal display (LCD) market. Considering their average lifetime of between 3 and 8 years, the management of end-of-life LCDs represents a modern critical issue. Nevertheless, this kind of waste could also represent a source of secondary raw materials, especially indium, a metal classified as a critical raw material by the European Commission, on the basis of supply risk. This element is present, in oxide form, in the indium tin oxide film, an optoelectronic material with characteristics of transparency to visible light, electric conduction, and thermal reflection. Currently, no commercial recycling processes are available but many researches have focused on the optimization of high-efficiency treatments, carried out at different conditions