For waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE),large quantities of waste printed circuit boards (PCBs) are released into environment.In light of their characteristics including complex structures,high metals content and potential hazards,waste PCBs are regarded as the most difficult parts of WEEE to be recycled.Therefore in recent ten years,the issue has attracted much attention from researchers and enterprises.This article reviews the latest processes of waste PCBs developed from laboratories to pilot engineering applications,and presents the most suitable available technology for waste PCBs,typically categorized as manually dismantling and automatic approaches in developing and developed countries,respectively.Towards achieving the better sustainability and recyclability for waste PCBs,nonmetal powder and precious metals should be developed for a deep recovery following mechanical treatment.Additionally,a significant shift is emerging from dismantling for recycling of printed wiring boards,to disassembling for remanufacturing of electronic components,which will indicate that a new paradigm of reclaiming waste PCBs is shaping.
printed circuit boards (PCBs) waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) recycling best available technology trends
Xianlai Zeng Jinhui Li Lixia Zheng Henghua Xie Bin Lu Kai Xia Kuoming Chao Weidong Li Jianxin Yang Szuyin Lin
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, T Dongjiang Environmental Company Limited, Shenzhen 518057, China Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Scien Faculty of Engineering and Computing, Coventry University, Coventry CV1 5FB, UK Institute of Information Management,National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan