Investigating Methods of Electronic Waste Management and Recycling of Ever-Increasing Electronic Wastes with Emphasis on Eco-Friendly Processes

Subject Areas : Renewable energy

Saman Madanian ¹ , Sayed Mohammad Ali Zanjani ²

1 - Department of Electrical Engineering- Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran
2 - Smart Microgrid Research Center- Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran

Received: 2019-11-06 Accepted : 2020-04-18 Published : 2020-05-04

Keywords: waste Management, Environmental pollution, Electronic waste, block chain, power pulse,

Abstract :

Electronic waste (E-waste) consists of obsolete electrical or electronic devices. Electronic waste recycling is of importance when it comes to protecting resources and environment. Today, nearly 1.3 billion tons/year of waste is produced worldwide, which is expected to increase to 4.3 billion tons/year by 2025. E-waste from old PCs is predicted to increase to 500 percent over a decade, and by 2020, compared to 2007, the disposal of cell phones will be increased by almost 18 times. Understanding and distinguishing different components of E-waste can help their efficient recycling. Sophisticated electronic devices contain approximately 60 different elements, which include valuable and hazardous materials. The most valuable component of E-waste is PCB, which contain many hazardous materials besides valuable metals. To prevent human and environmental poisoning, it is necessary to analyze the properties and compounds of different materials in E-waste and to find ways of re-managing it using healthy and environmentally friendly processes. In this paper, we focus on the general E-wasteland problems, such as the classification of E-waste, its constituents, various eco-friendly waste manage­me­n­t and recycling processes, as well as considering valuable metals extraction. Despite many efforts to develop the recycling technology, this technology has many disadvantages due to the complexity of E-waste treatment systems. Therefore, the disadvantages of each process are discussed by considering technical problems and environmental protection level.

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