Kinetic Analysis and Pollutant Evolution During Thermal Degradation of Printed Circuit Boards Considering the Effect of Metals

Paper submitted to the 7th International Symposium on Feedstock Recycling of Polymeric Materials (7th ISFR 2013), New Delhi, India, 23-26 October 2013.

Effect of Temperature, Atmosphere and Metals on the Thermal Degradation of Printed Circuit Boards

The permanent expansion of the market of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and the shorter innovation cycles, lead to a faster replacement of these appliances, making EEE a fast-growing source of waste (WEEE). As stated in Directive 2012/19/EU1 on waste electrical and electronic equipment, the content of hazardous components in EEE is a major concern during the waste management phase, and recycling of WEEE is not currently undertaken to a sufficient extent, resulting in a loss of valuable resources.

Hydrogen Production by Steam Reforming of Ethanol on Rh-Pt Catalysts: Influence of CeO2, ZrO2, and La2O3 as Supports

CeO2-, ZrO2-, and La2O3-supported Rh-Pt catalysts were tested to assess their ability to catalyze the steam reforming of ethanol (SRE) for H2 production. SRE activity tests were performed using EtOH:H2O:N2 (molar ratio 1:3:51) at a gaseous space velocity of 70,600 h−1 between 400 and 700 °C at atmospheric pressure. The SRE stability of the catalysts was tested at 700 °C for 27 h time on stream under the same conditions. RhPt/CeO2, which showed the best performance in the stability test, also produced the highest H2 yield above 600 °C, followed by RhPt/La2O3 and RhPt/ZrO2. The fresh and aged catalysts were characterized by TEM, XPS, and TGA. The higher H2 selectivity of RhPt/CeO2 was ascribed to the formation of small (~5 nm) and stable particles probably consistent of Rh-Pt alloys with a Pt surface enrichment. Both metals were oxidized and acted as an almost constant active phase during the stability test owing to strong metal-support interactions, as well as the superior oxygen mobility of the support. The TGA results confirmed the absence of carbonaceous residues in all the aged catalysts.