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.     

德国双元系统对电子废弃物回收的启示

本文回顾了德国双元系统在包装物回收领域取得的成功，探讨了此系统应用于电子废弃物回收的可行性与优势。针对电子废弃物的特性，本文提出了一系列相应的改进措施，使德国双元系统能够适用于电子废弃物的回收。     

Waste management of electric and electronic equipment: comparative analysis of end-of-life strategies

This article analyzes diverse aspects of the waste management of electronic and electric equipment. The scope of the study focuses on end-of-life strategies currently implemented in industrialized economies such as Japan, the United States, and the European Union. The objective is a comparative analysis of such strategies in order to identify logistic issues that may contribute to the further improvement of waste management policies. The results indicate that although all strategies follow the extended producer responsibility principle, in practice several logistic differences arise due to particular interpretations of the concept. In general, it was observed that a direct comparison is rather difficult since the strategies consider different legal frameworks, they cover different types and numbers of products, and the resultant mass flows and related operational costs are highly context-dependent variables. Therefore, it is not possible to indicate which strategy presents the highest overall efficiency. The study concludes that a little contribution is feasible if the advantages and weaknesses of the models depicted and discussed here are considered in further regulatory decisions.Extended version of the poster presentation A comparative analysis of end-of-life strategies for home appliances in Japan, America, and the European Union, accepted at the 31st Annual Meeting of Environmental Systems Research, Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE), October 24–25, 2003, Kitakyushu, Japan     

中国电子垃圾管理对策的研究

日益严重的电子垃圾污染已直接或间接地危害到人类的健康,因此,电子垃圾的有效管理变得越来越重要。文章简要分析了目前世界总体电子垃圾的产生特点以及中国电子垃圾的污染现状,通过分析中国对于电子垃圾污染和管理采取的一系列政策和措施的有效性,重点对比研究了现阶段中国与几个发达国家电子垃圾的管理回收手段及政策,试图寻找中国电子垃圾管理的有效措施。最后,综合各国管理经验提出了电子垃圾的管理方案,从而为中国的电子垃圾管理提供借鉴与建议。     

欧盟WEEE指令及其最新进展

本文以欧盟WEEE指令为中心,研究了该指令及其最新进展,对其与贸易壁垒的关系及对我国的影响和启示进行了探讨。     

Thermal decomposition of electronic wastes: mobile phone case and other parts

Pyrolysis and combustion runs at 850°C in a horizontal laboratory furnace were carried out on different parts of a mobile phone (printed circuit board, mobile case and a mixture of both materials). The analyses of the carbon oxides, light hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, polychlorodibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), and dioxin-like PCBs are shown. Regarding semivolatile compounds, phenol, styrene, and its derivatives had the highest yields. In nearly all the runs the same PAHs were identified, naphthalene being the most common component obtained. Combustion of the printed circuit board produced the highest emission factor of PCDD/Fs, possibly due to the high copper content.     

Occupational exposure in the fluorescent lamp recycling sector in France

The fluorescent lamp recycling sector is growing considerably in Europe due to increasingly strict regulations aimed at inciting the consumption of low energy light bulbs and their end-of-life management. Chemical risks were assessed in fluorescent lamp recycling facilities by field measurement surveys in France, highlighting that occupational exposure and pollutant levels in the working environment were correlated with the main recycling steps and processes.The mean levels of worker exposure are 4.4 mg/m³, 15.4 μg/m³, 14.0 μg/m³, 247.6 μg/m³, respectively, for total inhalable dust, mercury, lead and yttrium. The mean levels of airborne pollutants are 3.1 mg/m³, 9.0 μg/m³, 9.0 μg/m³, 219.2 μg/m³, respectively, for total inhalable dust, mercury, lead and yttrium. The ranges are very wide. Surface samples from employees’ skin and granulometric analysis were also carried out. The overview shows that all the stages and processes involved in lamp recycling are concerned by the risk of hazardous substances penetrating into the bodies of employees, although exposure of the latter varies depending on the processes and tasks they perform. The conclusion of this study strongly recommends the development of a new generation of processes in parallel with more information sharing and regulatory measures.     

Distribution of copper,silver and gold during thermal treatment with brominated flame retardants

The growing consumption of electric and electronic equipment results in creating an increasing amount of electronic waste. The most economically and environmentally advantageous methods for the treatment and recycling of waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) are the thermal techniques such as direct combustion, co-combustion with plastic wastes, pyrolysis and gasification. Nowadays, this kind of waste is mainly thermally treated in incinerators (e.g. rotary kilns) to decompose the plastics present, and to concentrate metals in bottom ash. The concentrated metals (e.g. copper, precious metals) can be supplied as a secondary raw material to metal smelters, while the pyrolysis of plastics allows the recovery of fuel gases, volatilising agents and, eventually, energy. Indeed, WEEE, such as a printed circuit boards (PCBs) usually contains brominated flame retardants (BFRs). From these materials, hydrobromic acid (HBr) is formed as a product of their thermal decomposition.In the present work, the bromination was studied of copper, silver and gold by HBr, originating from BFRs, such as Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and Tetrabromobisphenol A-Tetrabromobisophenol A diglycidyl ether (TTDE) polymer; possible volatilization of the bromides formed was monitored using a thermo-gravimetric analyzer (TGA) and a laboratory-scale furnace for treating samples of metals and BFRs under an inert atmosphere and at a wide range of temperatures. The results obtained indicate that up to about 50% of copper and silver can evolve from sample residues in the form of volatile CuBr and AgBr above 600 and 1000 °C, respectively. The reactions occur in the molten resin phase simultaneously with the decomposition of the brominated resin. Gold is resistant to HBr and remains unchanged in the residue.     

上海市废弃电器电子产品回收现状及分析

基于废弃电器电子产品产生量大、价值高、危害性强等特点,阐述了对它们进行回收处理的必然性。文中在调研上海市废弃电器电子产品回收量、预测其产生量的基础上,阐明了在家电以旧换新的政策下上海市废弃电器电子产品具有很高回收率以及废弃电视机的所占比例极高的特点,并分析了产生这种现象的原因。     

中国电子电器废弃物回收利用环境影响与管理研究

随着电子技术的迅猛发展,电子电器产品使用寿命大幅缩短,废弃物产生量迅速增加。因为有较高的回收利用价值,作为电子电器产品生产大国,中国WEEE拆解业发达,但作坊式的回收利用产生的持久性有机污染物(POPs)和镉、铬、汞等重金属污染造成了严重的环境危机。发展清洁生产,建立符合中国国情的回收处理体系和收费方式,对符合资质的企业给予补贴,加强科研,加强技术推广,让每个消费者都参与环保事业,建立健全法律法规体系等,是中国电子电器废弃物回收利用的合理途径。