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Quality Assessment of Plastic Recyclates from Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE): A Case Study for Desktop Computers, Laptops, and Tablets

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Technologies and Eco-innovation towards Sustainability II

Abstract

Worldwide every year 41.8 billion tons of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) reaches the end-of-life with changing designs, product, and material compositions. In order to enable the recycling industry to adapt its processes to the evolutions in product design and material composition, it is crucial to assess these changes in waste streams. Therefore, a scheme is presented that helps to evaluate the quality of plastics in WEEE for mechanical recycling. Based on a case study for computer housings, laptop back covers, and tablet housings, the scheme is applied and discussed regarding their potential quality for a disassembly-based recycling process. For this assessment Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is used to determine the plastic types and degradation found in this waste stream. The discarded desktop computer and tablet housings consist of different plastics, such as ABS, PC/ABS, HIPS, and ABS/PMMA, whereas laptop housings are largely dominated by PC/ABS.

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Abbreviations

ABS:

Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene terpolymer

FTIR:

Fourier transform infrared

GC-MS:

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

HIPS:

High-impact polystyrene

MFI:

Melt flow index

PC:

Polycarbonate

PMMA:

Polymethyl methacrylate

WEEE:

Waste electrical and electronic equipment

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Acknowledgment

The authors acknowledge the Flemish Environmental Technology Platform (MIP) and the Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO) for funding this research. The authors would also like to acknowledge the partners in the Next Level Plastics Recycling project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Florian Wagner, Jef Peeters, Joost Duflou & Wim Dewulf

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, KU Leuven, Diepenbeek, Belgium

    Florian Wagner & Jozefien De Keyzer

Authors
  1. Florian Wagner
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  2. Jef Peeters
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  3. Jozefien De Keyzer
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  4. Joost Duflou
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  5. Wim Dewulf
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Florian Wagner .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan

    Allen H. Hu

  2. National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan

    Mitsutaka Matsumoto

  3. Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan, Taiwan

    Tsai Chi Kuo

  4. National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Shana Smith

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Wagner, F., Peeters, J., De Keyzer, J., Duflou, J., Dewulf, W. (2019). Quality Assessment of Plastic Recyclates from Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE): A Case Study for Desktop Computers, Laptops, and Tablets. In: Hu, A., Matsumoto, M., Kuo, T., Smith, S. (eds) Technologies and Eco-innovation towards Sustainability II. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1196-3_12

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