The major components of particles emitted during recycling of waste printed circuit boards in a typical e-waste workshop of South China |
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Authors: | Xinhui Bi Bernd RT Simoneit ZhenZhen Wang Xinming Wang Guoying Sheng Jiamo Fu |
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Institution: | 1. School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, United States;2. Department of Physical and Environmental Science, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A4, Canada;3. Air Quality Processes Research Section, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, Ontario M3H 5T4, Canada;4. Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX), Masaryk University, Kamenice 753/5, Pavilion A29, 62500 Brno, Czech Republic;5. Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X3, Canada;6. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B1, Canada;1. State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, People''s Republic of China;2. Toxicological Centre, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium;3. University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People''s Republic of China |
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Abstract: | Electronic waste from across the world is dismantled and disposed of in China. The low-tech recycling methods have caused severe air pollution. Air particle samples from a typical workshop of South China engaged in recycling waste printed circuit boards have been analyzed with respect to chemical constituents. This is the first report on the chemical composition of particulate matter (PM) emitted in an e-waste recycling workshop of South China. The results show that the composition of PM from this recycling process was totally different from other emission sources. Organic matter comprised 46.7–51.6% of the PM. The major organic constituents were organophosphates consisting mainly of triphenyl phosphate (TPP) and its methyl substituted compounds, methyl esters of hexadecanoic and octadecanoic acids, levoglucosan and bisphenol A. TPP and bisphenol A were present at 1–5 orders of magnitude higher than in other indoor and outdoor environments throughout the world, which implies that they might be used as potential markers for e-waste recycling. The elemental carbon, inorganic elements and ions had a minor contribution to the PM (<5% each). The inorganic elements were dominated by phosphorus and followed by crustal elements and metal elements Pb, Zn, Sn, and lesser Cu, Sb, Mn, Ni, Ba and Cd. The recycling of printed circuit boards was demonstrated as an important contributor of heavy metal contamination, particularly Cd, Pb and Ni, to the local environment. These findings suggest that this recycling method represents a strong source of PM associated with pollutants to the ambient atmosphere of an e-waste recycling locale. |
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