Thermal treatment of electrical and electronic waste plastics

Abstract

During cocombustion tests up to 12 wt % of different types of electrical and electronic (E + E) waste plastics were added to pretreated municipal solid waste (MSW) in a test incinerator. The increased heating value improved the burnout of the bottom ashes. The level of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans in the raw gas was not altered significantly by the co-combustion. Even high bromine (Br) load caused only limited concentrations of bromine containing dioxins and furans in the raw gas, which did not deteriorate the emission quality. Hence MSW combustion is a beneficial disposal route for limited amounts of certain E + E waste. Metallic components should carefully be separated prior to combustion.

Formation of hydrogen bromide and organobrominated compounds in the thermal degradation of electronic boards

“…Most of the former studies were dedicated to shed some light on the possible formation of extremely hazardous compounds, as polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PBDD) and polybrominated dibenzofurans (PBDF), in the oxidation of BFRs [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. More recently, several investigations were dedicated to the distribution of bromine among the thermal degradation products of the more common BFRs, as tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBA) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29], and of materials containing BFRs [26,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45].…”

“…However, the influence of the conditions present during the thermal degradation on the product yields as well as on the thermal decomposition pathways of materials containing BFRs was not systematically investigated. Understanding the influence of parameters as the heating rate and the reaction environment on the formation of high molecular weight organobrominated compounds may be of fundamental importance in the perspective of the correct design of end-life disposal processes of these materials [15,[46][47][48][49], as well as in the prediction of the hazards that may derive from the thermal stress of materials containing BFRs.…”

Electronic scraps – Recovering of valuable materials from parallel wire cables

“…Another important feature of recycling of polymeric material from WEEE is to keep some pollutants like PCBs and flame retardants in a close circuit (Schlummer et al, 2007;Leo et al, 2007;Richter et al, 1997;Riess et al, 2000;Vehlow et al, 2000;Ebert and Bahadir, 2003).…”

Characterization of shredded television scrap and implications for materials recovery

“…In practice, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and organophosphate esters are widely used in HIPS as flame retardants additives (Vehlow et al, 2000;Braun and Schartel, 2004;Jakab et al, 2003;Hamm et al, 2001;Imai et al, 2003;Yamawaki, 2003;Riess et al, 2000;Sjö din et al, 2001). Unfortunately, additives may leak into the environment during the lifetime or destruction of the product because they are not chemically bound to the polymer matrix (Carlsson et al, 2000;Sjö din et al, 2001;Levchik et al, 2000;Wolf et al, 2000;Riess et al, 2000).…”