Electrochemical methods for materials recycling

Abstract

The present review describes electrochemical methods for the recovery of chemical feedstocks from waste materials. We emphasize the use of electrical current, fields, and controlled potentials as sustainable, scalable solutions to impending societal challenges such as materials recycling and the management of solid wastes. This review focuses on two facets of electrochemical recycling: (1) the recovery of critical raw materials from wastes that would otherwise be destined for landfills and (2) the recycling and upcycling of waste polymer streams. This review describes both technological processes and current research with the goal of catalyzing understanding towards the mining of valuable materials from complex wastes.