Skempris Alexios, 20059088 Literature Review

PEME5451M – Waste Treatment & Disposal Module Professor: Paul Williams

Coursework 1: Literature Review

Topic selected: The recycle of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE)

Skempris Alexios, 20059088

School of Process Environment and Materials Engineering, Leeds University

The Recycling of EEE

Abstract

On this paper a literature review will be made on the recycling of Electrical and
Electronic Equipment, otherwise known as EEE. When it comes to the recycling of EEE
there are several factors to be taken into account, most important of which are the materials
and the processes that are hazardous to the environment as well as the techniques used for
recycling that are the most efficient. This essay will focus on these two based on the research
that has already been conducted and some discussion on the existing techniques will be made.

Introduction

Recycle is the process through which used materials are reformed in order to be able
to be used again. By recycling we reduce the consumption of raw materials as well as energy
usage and therefore the environment is spared a great deal of implications. Additionally a
considerable amount of resources is saved as the processed material is suitable for reuse.
Finally recycling is a key component to the “hierarchy of waste management”, a plan
developed by the EU as a guideline to its member states to optimize their waste treatment and
disposal strategies. [1]

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Skempris Alexios, 20059088 Literature Review

Figure 1: Hierarchy of waste management (Source: [1]).

In this review the recycle process of Electrical and Electronic Equipment waste is to
be studied. The new applications of EEE are increasing significantly and the production of
electrical and electronic equipment is one of the fastest growing sectors of industrial
production in the world. This development, however, makes the Waste of Electrical and
Electronic Equipment (WEEE) as one of the most critical categories of waste.

With the present evolution and development rate, electronic technology has an
increasingly short lifespan. As a result, the waste of electronic equipment becomes larger and
larger and therefore raising the concern of the EU and public as to its damaging effects to the
environment. Electrical and Electronic waste was found to have several hazardous
components and the need for proper recycle was urgent. As the EU retains a leading role in
environment protection policies, the directive 2002/96/EC otherwise known as WEEE, was
legislated by the European Council in order to meet the environmental needs. [2]

In this review a short introduction of the WEEE directive will be made and based on
the research that has been done so far on the recycling of the EEE the actual danger the “end-
of-life” electronic parts are posing will be discussed. Also recycle processing techniques will
be briefly introduced and a comparison will be made between the different recycling
methods.
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The WEEE directive

The WEEE directive is important to be mentioned because it’s the directive under
which all manufacturing industries should apply to. Essentially it obligates them to have a
recycling facility and to put it in use. WEEE stands for Waste of Electrical and Electronic
Equipment and is concerning the electrical and electronic equipment that is no longer usable
and has been deemed as waste. It directs the percentage of the equipment that goes to landfill
as well as set targets for the percentage that is to be recycled [3]. Each member state is
responsible for its own WEEE and has to apply inspections to ensure the directive is applied
properly [2].Under the WEEE directive, all manufacturers of electrical and electronic
equipment are enforced by law to keep a separate site for their electronic waste and are also
responsible for accepting the waste of the consumers. It is noteworthy that the consumers can
return their “end-of-life” electronic equipment for recycling free of charge [2]. From there
they should process the waste material and recycle whatever is possible before sending it to a
landfill.

Wastage of raw materials and energy in EEE

Obviously, the increased production of EEE bounds significant quantities of raw

materials and energy, while using several chemicals. The increasingly fast wastage involves
significant losses of raw materials, but also a loss for all the energy consumed for those
materials to be mined. In addition, electrical and electronic products contain valuable
materials such as various metals, plastics, glass, etc.

According to Ching-Hwa Lee et al. when constructing a computer (hard drive, screen,
keyboard and mouse) a great number of materials is used including plastic, magnetite and
components of integrated circuit boards like iron, copper and resin [4]. Furthermore, the work
of Martin Goosey et al. adds that each construction of a new computer consumes amounts of
crude oil and natural gas [6]. The most interesting though when it comes to the waste of EEE
raw materials is the work of Li-Teh Lu et al. which presents a table of the materials and
chemical substances found in notebook computers [17]. As notebook computers are one of
the fastest growing industries of our days the danger of its increased production and need for
recycling hardly needs to be stated. Table 1 shows the composition of a notebook computer
by material and by their average weights.

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Skempris Alexios, 20059088 Literature Review

Table 1: Composition of NB computer (Source: [17])

In May 2003 on a seminar in Copenhagen Denmark, a study was presented about the
quantity of several raw materials in electronic boards. Table 2 shows the variety and quantity
of material found in each ton of electronic boards.

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Skempris Alexios, 20059088 Literature Review

Material contained in a tonne of electronic boards

Component Kg/t Component Kg/t
Plastic 273 Cadmium 0,36
Copper 130 Tantalum 0,17
Iron 41 Molybdenum 0,14
Bromine 26 Palladium 0,11
Tin 20 Cobalt 0,08
Nickel 18 Cerium 0,05
Antimony 10 Platinum 0,03
Zinc 4 Lanthanum 0,03
Silver 0,45 Mercury 0,01
Gold 0,45
Table 2: Variety and quantity of material found in each ton of electronic boards (Source: [7])

Hazardous substances in WEEE

Many of the problems of environment and health caused by the current management
of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) are linked to the existence of
hazardous substances in such products.

Each electrical or electronic product consists of a combination of multiple structural

units. The works of Martin Gousey et al. and Jae-Chun Lee et al. seem to agree on a
composition of the basic building blocks common to EEE. These include: assembly of printed
circuit boards, cables and wires, plastics containing flame retardants, mercury switches and
breakers, components used in displays such as cathode ray tubes and liquid crystal displays,
batteries and electric data, data storage, light generators, capacitors, resistors, relays, sensors
and links[6],[8].

Furthermore Jae-Chun Lee et al. also notes that among the substances contained in
these components, the most environmentally problematic are the heavy metals, such as
mercury, cadmium and chromium, halogenated substances such as chlorofluorocarbons
(CFC), polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame
retardants, as well as asbestos and arsenic.[8]

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Skempris Alexios, 20059088 Literature Review

Noteworthy are the results of Hedemalm et al. on studies on EEE hazardous

materials which were presented recently at the Council of Ministers of the Nordic countries
[9]. It was concluded that high levels of dangerous substances were contained in
proportionally few parts of the apparatus.

Specifically:

 Mercury is used in percentage more than 90% in batteries and sensors. It is estimated
that 22% of the mercury consumed annually worldwide is used in electrical and
electronic equipment.

 Lead: also used in 90% in batteries and less in PBAs, and fluorescent light bulbs.

 Cadmium: over 90% is used in rechargeable batteries.

 Hexavalent chromium: is used mainly as a corrosion inhibitor in cooling systems of

refrigerators.

 Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs): 90% of PCBs is used in capacitors.

 Brominated flame retardants: 80% of those is used in circuit boards, cables and
plastic covers of computers, while a small percentage is used in televisions and
household appliances in the kitchen.

 Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA): 90% of those are used in PBAs, PWBs (Printed

Wiring Boards) and their components.

 Chloroparaffins: 90% of those is used in PVC cables.

 Copper: small waste of electrical and electronic goods is the source of 40% of the
copper content in bottom ash from incineration of solid.

 Polychlorinated Naphthalene (PCN): used for impregnation of the paper casing of

the cables and the capacitors.

 Liquid crystals: more than 2000 components, many of which are poisonous, can
form liquid crystals.

 Optical materials: Contain indium, gallium, arsenic and cadmium

(Source: [9])
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Types of WEEE recycling techniques

In the first half of the last decade [11], the interest of the majority researchers have
focused on planning for the “end-of-life” EEE (Design for End-of-life) and analysis of the
costs of dismantling that would lead to more accurate results for design from the outset. The
main reason was probably that research in this area was launched by the developments in
machine designs [11]. It seemed therefore logical that the solution to environmental concerns
was dismantled.

An alternative or complementary treatment technology such as cutting and then

separating materials for recycling had not received special attention for several years. [10].
Later, researchers realized that the factors of cost in and the opinion of the manufactures and
the public play an important role.

It should be noted that the international academic literature does not attach special
importance to the exact process of how the recycling is made. But the researchers of
recycling companies that aim to attract more and more customers covered this area more
thoroughly. It is noted however that in Europe, the process of cutting is currently dominant
[11].

For the “end-of-life” of the devices studied, there are 3 essential techniques for
recycling of WEEE [10]:

• Cutting-Separation
• Metal processing
• Controlled Disassembly
the three techniques will be briefly described in order to identify vulnerabilities and
make comparisons.

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Skempris Alexios, 20059088 Literature Review

Cutting – Separation

According to the work by Seliger et al. [12] the basic principle of this technique is:
cutting the devices in very small pieces and then separating the different materials through
the appropriate processes (recovery of materials). One can characterize this as uncontrolled
disassembly. The procedure is as follows: The device is inserted into a cylindrical container
(sometimes compressed at presses first), where they are minced by rotating hammers until
they reach the appropriate size (usually 10 – 100mm) [12].

Figure 2: Shredder (Source: [14])

Metallurgical processing

Zussman et al. best describe this process and state that it’s an alternative to cutting
[15]. This technique mostly uses the non-metallic material products as fuel to liquefy and
recover metals. The method isolates the liquids, removes the valuable materials and the rest is
compressed and driven into the blast furnace. In the melting furnace, metals are properly
separated in order to avoid the creation of unwanted alloys. This treatment is highly
dependent on the requirements of the recycled materials. Especially in copper, many
applications are at various levels of purity. [15]

Nevertheless, criticism of the method indicates that the non-ferrous metals such as
copper can form alloys from the molten steel and significantly reduce its value, because the
copper is almost impossible to remove from alloys of steel.

Some researches argue, however, that the total energy benefit that is gained is
preferable to the one gained from disassembly [13]. Others see this process as a disguised
method of waste incineration [12].
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Skempris Alexios, 20059088 Literature Review

Disassembly

Gupta S.M.et al. [16] argue that this is the best technique for the recycle of EEE.
“Disassembly is the process of systematic removal of unwanted components from an
electronic device, ensuring that no parts are worn out in the process”. [16] As this is a purely
theoretical definition of dismantling a more practical version would be that disassembly can
be defined as a controlled process that aims to, by any means, separate and recover a desired
subset of the product.

Types of Dismantling [16]

According to Gupta S.M.et al. the process of disassembly can be distinguished in the
following types, depending on the level of recovery achieved:
 Non-destructive, without damaging any subset of the product (i.e. loosening screws,
disconnecting links).
 Partially destructive (partly destructive), with destruction of selected parts (i.e.
flame cutting, laser cutting) to achieve our goal.
 Destructive, with uncontrolled destruction of the structure product (i.e., cutting).This
is the most extreme case of disassembly.
 Selective disassembly: The process proceeds until a desired depth which is called
disassembly depth. This happens when estimations indicate that further dismantling is
not particularly beneficial to the environment and increases costs disproportionately.

The type of disassembly that is selected will depend on many factors. The goal is to
minimize costs and to automate the process [16]. The following figure shows the three major
trends of the solution structure of the products (cutting, manual and automated disassembly)
and some characteristics of each.

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Skempris Alexios, 20059088 Literature Review

Figure 3: solution structure of EEE (Source: [16])

Discussion

On the field of recycling EEE the fact that there is imminent danger to the
environment from mass production of devices appears to be common knowledge both for the
researchers and the public. The legislation of the WEEE directive serves as additional
evidence of that. Regarding the materials existing in most of the electrical and electronic
equipment, the majority of the researchers seem to agree on their analysis of the raw matter
used and also make valid points about the dangers they pose to the environment. However,
the recycling techniques, even though the descriptions of the processes were of limited detail,
give some room for comparison and discussion.

Regarding the cutting separation technique even though it is the most widely used
there are some shortcomings that appear. The nature of the technique is such, that the
complete reuse of a specific device is impossible. This means that there will always be a
percentage of raw materials that is wasted and not recycled. This could qualify as the main
disadvantage as the most environmental damage is done during the process of production.

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Skempris Alexios, 20059088 Literature Review

The metal processing technique appears to be basically a melting of the products until
the metallic parts can be extracted. As we saw earlier, the most of the EEE equipment
consists of more than just metals and therefore the same problem with the cutting separation
arises since plastic and other components are melt. Additionally through the process of
melting there’s bound to be pollutants released in the atmosphere so the argument that this is
a method close to incineration [12] is not invalid.

The disassembly technique appears to be the most effective when it comes to

environmental concerns since it can help it in several ways. Initially, easier access to subsets
will be possible fact which will deem repairs easier and increase the lifetime of the products.
By having a better access to the retrieval of subsets, the materials used are much easier to be
separated and ranked, resulting in the recycling process being much more efficient. Finally
it’s the only technique that has some potential to achieve a complete reuse of a specific
product or material. However, as the disassembly is obviously the slowest process of the
three it can result in low recycling productivity as well as a bigger cost to be achieved. This is
probably the reason why, even though it’s the most environmentally conscious method, it is
not so widely used.

Conclusions

On this Essay a review of the existing literature was presented on the topic of EEE.
The importance of proper recycling has already been research and the concern of the
scientific community has already led to several breakthroughs in recycling techniques.
However, economic impacts play an important role to the choice of the best recycling
technique for the EEE. Some studies were also presented on this review for they showed
particular interest as they concerned every day products. Room for further research does exist
as a technique efficient from both economic and environmentally conscious viewpoints has
yet to be discovered.

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References

1. Williams P.T, 1998. Waste Treatment and disposal

2. Directive 2002/96/EC of the European parliament and of the council of 27 January 2003
on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) available at http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2003:037:0024:0038:en:PDF

3. Electronic Waste Management, R E Hester (Editor), R M Harrison “Introduction and

overview” Martin Goosey available online at
http://0-www.rsc.org.wam.leeds.ac.uk/publishing/ebooks/2008/9780854041121.asp

4. An overview of recycling and treatment of scrap computers Ching-Hwa Lee, Chang-Tang

Changb, Kuo-Shuh Fanc, Tien-Chin Changd available at www.sciencedirect.com

5. C.-H. Lee, S.-L. Chang, K.-M. Wang, L.-C. Wen, Management of scrap computer
recycling in Taiwan, J. Hazard. Mater. 73 (3) (2000) 209–220.

6. Electronic Waste Management, R E Hester (Editor), R M Harrison “Materials used in

manufacturing” Martin Goosey and Gary C. Stevens available online at
http://0-www.rsc.org.wam.leeds.ac.uk/publishing/ebooks/2008/9780854041121.asp

7. Boks C.: How research institutions can contribute towards research progress in true
operationalisation of ecodesign. CIRP seminar on life cycle engineering Copenhagen,
Denmark May 2003 engineering for sustainable development - an obligatory skill of the
future engineer.

8. Present status of the recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment in Korea Jae-
Chun Lee, Hyo Teak Song, Jae-Min Yoo available at www.sciencedirect.com

9. Hedemalm, P., Carlsson, P. & Palm, V. (1995). Waste from Electrical and Electronic
Products - A Survey of the Contents of Materials and Hazardous Substances in Electric
and Electronic Products.

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10. Huisman J., Boks C., Stevels A.: Quotes for environmentally weighted recyclability
(QWERTY): concept of describing product recyclability in terms of environmental value.
Iint. J. Prod. res., 2003, vol. 41, no. 16, pp: 3649–3665.

11. Rose, C. M., Stevels, A.: Lessons Learned from Applying Environmental Value Chain
Analysis to Product Take-Back. Submitted to 7th CIRP - Life Cycle Engineering
Conference, Tokyo, Japan, November 2000.

12. Seliger, G., Zussman, E., Kriwet, A.: Integration of Recycling Considerations into
Product Design – a System Approach. Presented at the NATO ARW, Italy, 1993.

13. Boks, C., The relative importance of uncertainty factors in product end-of-life Scenarios,
Delft University of Technology, 2002

14. Artech. Recyclingtechnik GmbH ) http://www.recyclingtechnik.de/

15. Zussman, E., Kriwet, A., Seliger, G.: Disassembly-Oriented Assessment Methodology to
Support Design for Recycling. Annals of the CIRP, Vol. 43/1/1994, pp: 9-14.

16. Gupta S.M., Brennan L. and Taleb K.N.: Operations Planning Issues in an
Assembly/Disassembly Environment. International Journal of Operations & Production
Management, Vol. 14 No. 9, 1994, pp. 57-67.

17. Li-Teh Lu , Iddo K. Wernick, Teng-Yuan Hsiao, Yue-Hwa Yu, Ya-Mei Yang, Hwong-
Wen Ma Balancing the life cycle impacts of notebook computers: Taiwan’s experience
available at www.sciencedirect.com

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