Abstract
Thermal degradation of a FR-4 type printed circuit board, PCB, containing brominated flame retardant has been studied both in inert and oxidative atmosphere for the emission control of harmful brominated compounds. The presence of oxygen in atmosphere resulted in the reduction of the yield of hydrogen bromide, one of the major brominated compounds in thermal treatment, and in the enhancement of the formation of bromine and hypobromous acid. The intentional addition of zinc oxide to the PCB powder sample gave rise to the fixation of Br as zinc bromide. It also resulted in the promotion of the release of brominated compounds in comparison to the case of pure PCB. Thus, the addition of the oxide can be a benefit with respect to the bromine fixation and the kinetics of thermal treatment of PCB as well as metal recovery.
Highlights
Waste electrical and electronic equipment, WEEE, contains a variety of valuable metals, such as gold and silver, so that the development of the metal recovery process from WEEE is of great importance for the establishment of sustainable society [1]
It has been found out that bromine originating from tetrabromobisphenol A, a representative BFR, and a printed circuit board containing BFRs was converted to stable metal halides or oxyhalides; the fixation of bromine was realized [4] [5]
We studied the influence of the atmosphere and the presence of metal oxides during thermal treatment of a printed circuit board
Summary
Waste electrical and electronic equipment, WEEE, contains a variety of valuable metals, such as gold and silver, so that the development of the metal recovery process from WEEE is of great importance for the establishment of sustainable society [1]. The influence of the metallic compounds in thermal treatment of PCB is of great importance, and related studies have been reported in literature [6] [7] [8] and references therein. As combustion of WEEE is a main thermal treatment in the metal recovery, it is important to study the influence of oxygen in the atmosphere. We studied the influence of the atmosphere and the presence of metal oxides during thermal treatment of a printed circuit board. These results will be good basis for designing of thermal process of WEEE
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