# Presentation: 203839

## Emissions from the Incineration of Electronics Industry Waste

- E. S. Stewart, P. M. Lemieux
- U.S. EPA
- Research Triangle Park, NC

## The Electronics Waste Problem

- According to OSW, at least 2.1 million tons of electronics waste (e-waste) was generated in 2000 (MSW in U.S. 2000 final report).
- Of this amount, at least 1.9 million tons (91%) entered U.S. landfills or incinerators.
- E-waste may contain leachable toxic metals and brominated flame retardants.
- Some of the remaining waste ends up in recovery operations in developing nations.

- Scrap Wire Recycling in China

## Recovery of valuable metals
Source of PBTs
PXDDs/Fs (?)
Brominated Flame Retardants

- Recovery of valuable metals
- Source of PBTs
- PXDDs/Fs (?)
- Brominated Flame Retardants

**Open burning of plastic encased metal printer and motor parts to reduce the waste to metals. Guiyu,China. December 2001. Copyright Basel Action Network.**

- E-waste Recycling in China

## Controlled E-waste Combustion

- Tests conducted over a kiln temperature range of 570-830 °C
- Varied kiln preheat time
- Heat generated from waste accounted for 17% of kiln firing rate.

## Flue Gas Measurements

- Continuous emissions of O2, CO2, CO, NO
- Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
- On-line gas chromatograph
- Sampling Trains
- Modified Method 5 (semi-volatiles)
- Method 26 (halogens)
- Method 23 (PCDD/Fs, PBDD/Fs)
- Method 29 (metals)

## Rotary Kiln Incinerator Simulator

**TC**

**Main**
**Burner **

**Afterburner**

**Secondary Combustion Chamber(SCC)**

**CEMs **

**OLGC**

**M29**

**M26**

**CEMs**

**TC**

**TC**

**TC**

**TC**

**M23**

**TC**

**Primary Combustion**
**Chamber**

**Ram**
**Feeder **

## The E-waste Feed

- Waste was an equal parts (by weight) mixture of computer keyboards, motherboards, and cases.

## Feeding E-waste into Kiln

## Ultimate Analyses of Feed

|  | Motherboards | Keyboards | Cases |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| C, % | 18.24 | 53.11 | 71.57 |
| H, % | 1.63 | 5.14 | 7.01 |
| N, % | 0.51 | 1.43 | 2.31 |
| S, % | 0.09 | - | - |
| Br, % | 5.01 | - | 0.52 |
| Cl, ppm | 1700 | 148 | 233 |
| Ash, % | 66.79 | 28.68 | 8.63 |
| KJ/kg | 6,958 | 31,005 | 28,028 |

## Kiln O2, CO2 Conc. – 11/20/02

## CO Concentrations – 11/20/02

## NO Concentration – 11/20/02

## VOC Conc. vs. Kiln Temperature

## Halogen Concentrations in Flue Gas

## Semi-volatile Organic Compounds 

| SVOC | Concentration, g/dscm  |
| --- | --- |
| Naphthalene  | 1.2-3.3 |
| Acetophenone   | 1.0-2.0 |
| Chlorobenzene  | 0.4-1.4 |
| Dibenzofuran  | 0.3-0.8 |

## Method 23 Results-PCDDs/Fs

- No PCDDs were detected using LRMS
- MCDF detected during low-temperature runs on 1/28 and 1/30/03 at 4ng/dscm.
- OCDF detected during high-temperature run on 11/4/02 at 2 ng/dscm.

## Method 23 Results-PBDFs

## Polybrominated chloro-DFs

## Polybrominated dichloro-DFs

## PBDF Summary

- Due to lack of standards, results for brominated and mixed bromochloro-DFs are semi-quantitative, at best.
- Some brominated furans appear to be present in higher concentrations than those of MCDF.
- MBDF appears to be present at 5-10 X conc. of MCDF.
- In general, PBDF > PB-MCDF > PB-DCDF

## Metal Concentrations in Flue Gas

| Metal  | Concentration, g/dscm  |
| --- | --- |
| Copper (Cu)  | 4600-7950  |
| Lead (Pb)  | 3790-4840 |
| Antimony (Sb)  | 790-1540  |
| Cadmium (Cd)  | 55-81  |
| Manganese (Mn)  | 19-52  |
| Nickel (Ni)  | 8-17  |
| Barium (Ba)  | 6-28  |
| Arsenic (As)  | 3-6  |
| Chromium (Cr)  | 3-4  |
| Cobalt (Co)  | 0.7-2.3  |
| Beryllium (Be)  | 0.1-0.3  |

## TCLP Results for Bottom Ash

|  | 11/4/03 | 11/7/03 | EPA Max |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| As, ppm | 0.02 | 0.01 | 5.0 |
| Ba, ppm | 0.534 | 0.790 | 100.0 |
| Cd, ppm | 0.011 | 0.012 | 1.0 |
| Cr, ppm | 0.138 | 0.043 | 5.0 |
| Pb, ppm | 23.7 | 48.0 | 5.0 |
| Hg, ppm | ND  | ND | 0.2 |
| Se, ppm | 0.013 | 0.015 | 1.0 |

## Summary

- VOC emissions independent of kiln temperature over the range tested
- Primarily bromobenzene, other brominated organics
- Emissions of PCDFs near detection limits of LRMS
- PBDFs and mixed bromochloro-DFs were detected
- Metal emissions were significant, consisting primarily of Cu, Pb, Sb, Cd, Mn

## Future Work:  Open Burning of E-waste

- Working with Baptist University in Hong Kong to determine size, type, and composition of e-waste
- Scoping tests in open burn facility to quantify emissions of metals, VOCs, SVOCs, PXDDs/Fs