Evaluation of electronic components in life cycle assessment

Life cycle assessment (LCA), a quantitative method for evaluating the total environmental impact of a product, from the materials in its manufacture to its final disposal, is playing an increasingly important role in manufacturing. When the LCA method is applied to a product containing many kinds of electronic components, there is a need for life cycle inventory (LCI) data on the components. This paper provides an original calculation of the LCI data for each electronic components industry. These data show the amount of input energy and emissions into the atmosphere per yen of production yield. It is demonstrated that the magnitude of the LCI data for each industry is essentially equal to that of the other industries. Furthermore, we conclude that the LCI data for all electronic components are roughly equivalent, making it possible to calculate the LCI data of any electronic component by simply multiplying the LCI data for the industry by the price of the component. Furthermore, after comparing the materials production stages with the component manufacturing stage in the calculation, it became clear that for several component industries the materials production stage could not be omitted from the calculation. Received: April 10, 1998 / Accepted: February 8, 1999     

Environmental impacts and use of brominated flame retardants in electrical and electronic equipment

Management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) or e-waste is becoming a major issue as around 20–50 million tons of such waste is generated worldwide and increasing at a higher rate than other solid waste streams. Electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) contains over 1,000 materials of which brominated flame retardants (BFRs) such as polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have been the target of the regulators forcing manufacturers to adopt halogen-free flame retardants. As far as these alternatives are concerned, key consideration should be its performance during the whole life cycle through design, use and end-of-life management. The global halogen-free flame retardant movement has reached a point of no return. The most important issue as far as the environment is concerned, for which the transformation to halogen-free retardants was initially targeted, is to make sure that life span of the EEE using the alternatives to BFRs is not shortened thereby resulting in unforeseen increases in e-waste to deal with. The aim of this article is to investigate the environmental issues and current developments related to the use of BFRs in EEE manufacture. It describes the sources, toxicity and human exposure of BFRs, EOL management such as recycling and thermal treatments, exposure of BFRs from e-waste processing facilities and the environment around them and examines the developments and feasibility of the alternatives to BFR in EEE manufacture.     

电子设备的可靠性试验

可靠性试验是可靠性工程最基本的内容和最重要的工作项目。该文就电子设备可靠性试验的技术基础、可靠性试验的特点和分类、对可靠性试验数据的分析和处理方法、电子设备的可靠性试验方案设计作了一些介绍。     

Arsenic species in electronic cigarettes: Determination and potential health risk

Human exposure to contaminants from electronic cigarettes(e-cigarettes) and the associated health effects are poorly understood.There has been no report on the speciation of arsenic in e-liquid(solution used for e-cigarettes) and aerosols.We report here determination of arsenic species in e-liquids and aerosols generated from vaping the e-liquid.Seventeen e-liquid samples of major brands,purchased from local and online stores in Canada and China,were analyzed for arsenic species using high-performance liquid chromatography and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.Aerosols condensed from vaping the eliquids were also analyzed and compared for arsenic species.Six arsenic species were detected,including inorganic arsenate(iAs~Ⅴ),arsenite(iAs~Ⅲ),monomethylarsonic acid(MMA),and three new arsenic species not reported previously.In e-liquids,iAs~Ⅲ was detected in 59%,iAs~Ⅴ in 94%,and MMA in 47% of the samples.In the condensate of aerosols from vaping the e-liquids,iAs~Ⅲ was detected in 100%,iAsv in 88%,and MMA in 13% of the samples.Inorganic arsenic species were predominant in e-liquids and aerosols of e-cigarettes.The concentration of iAs~Ⅲ in the condensate of aerosols(median 3.27 μg/kg) was significantly higher than that in the e-liquid(median 1.08 μg/kg) samples.The concentration of inorganic arsenic in the vaping air was approximately 3.4 μg/m~3,which approaches to the permissible exposure limit(10 μg/m~3) set by the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration(OSHA).According to the Environmental Protection Agency's unit risk factor(4.3 × 10~(-3) per μg/m~3) for inhalation exposure to inorganic arsenic in the air,the estimated excess lung cancer risk from lifetime exposure to inorganic arsenic in the ecigarette vaping air(3.4 μg/m~3),assuming e-cigarette vaping at 1% of the time,is as high as1.5 × 10~(-4).These results raise health concerns over the exposure to arsenic from electronic cigarettes.     

报废电子器件处理技术进展

报废电子器件的数量急剧增长，加强其回收利用研究已经得到广泛重视。对报废电子器件的资源情况、回收技术，尤其是以环境保护-资源综合回收为目的的物理分离技术及其应用进行了评述，指出便于回收的电子器件的设计是未来发展的趋势。     

电子废弃物现状与回收处理探讨

伴随着电子工业和信息高科技产业的高速发展 ,电子废弃物问题不可避免地摆在了我们的面前。伴随着电子废弃物的越境转移和我国成为世界“电子产品制造基地” ,我国也成为世界上最大的“电子废弃物处理场”。介绍了我国及世界上电子废弃物的现状与处理状况 ,分析了电子废弃物具有的潜在环境污染性与可作为再生资源回收利用的资源性的双重特性 ,探讨了我国电子废弃物回收处理的循环经济之路 ,及其相关的政策、方法和措施等     

高温取热炉的水循环与安全运行

主要从水循环和循环倍率的角度，谈高温取热炉的安全性，并特别强调开工5天内是高温取热炉的危险期。     

我国电子废弃物现状研究

依据我国家电生产消费数据,对我国电子垃圾产生量进行了预测,认为中国目前正处于电子垃圾高速增长期。通过对电子废弃物处理技术现状的介绍和对我国电子废弃物处理现状的分析,认为我国电子废弃物处理仍处于很低的水平,目前我国符合环保和市场要求的电子废弃物处理企业不能满足我国目前电子废弃物快速增长的需要,迫切需要开发符合我国国情、有市场竞争力的电子废弃物处理工艺。贵稀金属作为国民经济发展不可缺少的资源,随着资源的开采,矿床的贫乏,开采成本的提高,从电子废弃物中回收贵稀金属将具有长远的战略意义。     

A new intelligent electronic nose system for measuring and analysing livestock and poultry farm odours

This paper introduces a new portable intelligent electronic nose system developed especially for measuring and analysing livestock and poultry farm odours. It can be used in both laboratory and field. The sensor array of the proposed electronic nose consists of 14 gas sensors, a humidity sensor, and a temperature sensor. The gas sensors were especially selected for the main compounds from the livestock farm odours. An expert system called “Odour Expert” was developed to support researchers’ and farmers’ decision making on odour control strategies for livestock and poultry operations. “Odour Expert” utilises several advanced artificial intelligence technologies tailored to livestock and poultry farm odours. It can provide more advanced odour analysis than existing commercially available products. In addition, a rank of odour generation factors is provided, which refines the focus of odour control research. Field experiments were conducted downwind from the barns on 14 livestock and poultry farms. Experimental results show that the predicted odour strengths by the electronic nose yield higher consistency in comparison to the perceived odour intensity by human panel. The “Odour Expert” is a useful tool for assisting farmers’ odour management practises. Supported by Ontario Pork, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF) of Canada.     

Exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers among workers at an electronic waste dismantling region in Guangdong, China

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are widely used as flame retardants. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the PBDE serum levels in residents from an electronic waste dismantling region, residents living within 50 km of the dismantling region, and a referent group with no occupational PBDE exposure. Fourteen PBDE congeners including BDE-28, BDE-47, BDE-99, BDE-100, BDE-153, BDE-154, BDE-183, BDE-196, BDE-197, BDE-203, BDE-206, BDE-207, BDE-208 and BDE-209 were quantified in these three groups by gas chromatography-negative chemical ionization (NCI) mass spectrometry in selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode. We found that the levels of all PBDE congeners in serum of residents from electronic waste dismantling region were significantly higher than those in the two other groups. The referents showed the lowest PBDE levels. Concentrations of congeners with a high number of bromine substituents, i.e., hepta- to decaBDEs in occupational exposure workers were 11-20 times higher than those in the referent group. BDE-209 was the dominant congener. The highest concentration of BDE-209 was observed among the electronic waste dismantling workers, and it was 3436 ng g(-1) lipid weight (ng g(-1) l.w.), which is the highest concentration of BDE-209 in humans worldwide. Some higher brominated PBDE congeners such as BDE-197, BDE-207 and BDE-208 also showed elevated concentrations in dismantling workers. This study confirms that BDE-209 is released to the environment and can bioaccumulate in the blood of electronic waste dismantling workers, and extensive occupational exposure to PBDEs leads to elevated concentrations of all PBDE congeners in serum.