Pyrolysis characteristics of the mixture of printed circuit board scraps and coal powder

Abstract

Thermogravimetric (TG) analysis and infrared spectroscopy were used to analyze the pyrolysis characteristics of printed circuit board scraps (PCBs), coal powder and their mixtures under nitrogen atmosphere. The experimental results show that there is a large difference between waste PCBs and coal powder in pyrolysis processing. The pyrolysis properties of the mixing samples are the result of interaction of the PCBs and coal powder, which is influenced by the content of mixture. The degree of pyrolysis and pyrolysis properties of the mixture are much better than that of the single component. The TG and the differential thermogravimetric (DTG) curves of the PCBs mixed with coal powder move towards the high-temperature zone with increasing amount of coal powder and subsequently the DTG peak also becomes wider. The Coats–Redfern integral method was used to determine the kinetic parameters of pyrolysis reaction mechanism with the different proportion of mixture. The gas of pyrolysis mainly composes of CO2, CO, H2O and some hydrocarbon. The bromide characteristic absorption peak has been detected obviously in the pyrolysis gas of PCBs. On the contrary, the absorption peak of the bromide is not obvious in pyrolysis gas of the PCBs samples adding 40% coal powder.