Abstract

STUDY ON THE ANALYSIS OF SOME COMMON ELECTRONIC WASTES – NEED FOR GREEN TECHNOLOGY

K. Rajasekar*, T. Ramachandramoorthy, A. Paulraj, and M. Soji George

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to create awareness among the public to reduce, reuse and recycle the electronic articles. In recent years, the technological revolution has resulted in the production of huge amount of electronic waste in all countries. India generates around 0.3 million tons of e-waste annually which is likely to grow exponentially to 1.6 million tons by 2012. The present work involves the collection, separation, analysis and treatment of domestic (like TV, radio, computer, cell phone, camera etc.) and laboratory (computers, conductivity bridges, potentiometers, ICs, LEDs etc.,) electronic waste materials. Their individual components were chemically analyzed before and after incineration and separated into three types, viz., materials which can be (a) reused, (b) recycled and (c) disposed. The qualitative analysis of a few e-waste components reveal that the presence of plastic / other organic polymers in addition to the metals like lead , copper, aluminium, nickel, cadmium, chromium, selenium , iron etc., A few electronic components were found to be suitable for reuse [resistors, transistors etc.,] some metals can be separated by conventional methods and extracted. The analysis and treatment of e-waste materials not only depend on the external components but also on the internal components [physical & chemical properties] and the technology by which the equipment works.

Keywords: Electronic waste, Analysis, Incineration, Reuse / Recycling