Determining metal content in waste printed circuit boards and their electronic components

Scientific paper - Original scientific paper

• Author: Aleksandra Anić Vučinić
• Author: Gordan Bedeković https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1083-5218; MBZ: 205792
• Author: Renato Šarc
• Author: Vitomir Premur
• Author's institution: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Geotechnical Engineering
• Author's institution: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: TECHNICAL SCIENCES; Mining, Petroleum and Geology Engineering
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: TECHNICAL SCIENCES; Interdisciplinary Technical Sciences

Abstract (english)

A wide range of published scientific articles on metal content in printed circuit boards
show that it is necessary to determine the content of individual metals. The aim of this
paper is to show how metal content varies according to the type and age of waste
electrical and electronic equipment collected in the Republic of Croatia. Samples of cell
phones, TV sets, and computers are collected. The metal content is determined for
electronic components and printed circuit board base plates separately for different grain
sizes (1-4 mm, 0.5-1 mm, 0.1-0.5 mm and < 0.1 mm). The results show that electronic
components form a larger part of printed circuit board mass fraction depending on the
equipment age and type. Generally, electronic components do have a higher mass
fraction for most metals (like: aluminium, copper, nickel, zinc, gold, and silver in most
cases) in comparison to printed circuit board base plates, but for certain metals (like: lead,
tin) the opposite applies. The electronic components of larger grain sizes (1-4 mm and
0.5-1 mm) contain more aluminium, copper, and zinc, and less lead, while the smaller
grain size fractions are richer in gold. The bare boards base plates of larger grain sizes
contain more copper, lead and tin, while the smallest grain size class (< 0.1 mm) contains
more aluminium and gold. No clear trends are noticed in the case of silver and lead.

• Keywords (english): electrical and electronic equipment; printed circuit boards; metal content; waste; recycling
• Language: english
• Publication type: Scientific paper - Original scientific paper
• Publication status: Published
• Peer review: Peer review - international
• Publication version: Published version
• Journal title: Journal of Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems
• Numbering: vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 590-602
• e-ISSN: 1848-9257
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13044/j.sdewes.d7.0312
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:169:509913
• Publication: 2020
• Document URL: http://www.sdewes.org/jsdewes/pid7.0312
• Type of resource: Text
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2020-10-29 13:50:28