This work presents a review of the international patents dealing with printed circuit board (PCB) recycling. PCBs are present in the majority of electric and electronic devices, and when the appliances reach their end-of-life phase, they need to be properly handled for the presence of valuable and hazardous materials. Many technologies have been developed and reviewed by the scientific community. However, the literature still lacks of a review of international patents, important to understand the technological innovation in this field. For this purpose, the current status of the international patents dealing with PCB recycling since the 1990s is presented. The main technologies for the mechanical treatment, the metal recovery and purification, the non-metal fraction exploitation are described and reviewed. As a whole, the present analysis is fundamental for the effective boost of a circular economy approaches.

这项工作介绍了有关印刷电路板（PCB）回收的国际专利。大多数电气和电子设备中都存在PCB，并且当设备达到使用寿命时，需要对它们进行适当的处​​理，以防止有价值和有害材料的存在。科学界已经开发和审查了许多技术。但是，文献仍然缺乏对国际专利的审查，这对理解该领域的技术创新很重要。为此，介绍了1990年代以来涉及PCB回收的国际专利的现状。介绍并综述了机械处理，金属回收和提纯，非金属馏分开采的主要技术。整体而言