LACOR, Department of Materials Engineering, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
LACAR, Department of Materials Engineering, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Waste Manag. 2020 Apr 15;107:285-293. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2020.04.028. Epub 2020 Apr 21.
LED lamps have already conquered the market of general lighting. This new product will generate a substantial flow of e-waste requiring studies for the correct management, especially concerning recycling alternatives. This study proposes a material characterization of all the tubular and bulb LED lamp components (carcass, LEDs, printed circuit board and LED module). After manual disassembling, polymers were characterized by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and the metals by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and acid leaching followed by ICP-OES analysis. By the novelty of separating and characterizing the LED lamp's components, a process which has not yet been studied, the results allow for a better interpretation of the different materials distribution within the lamps which is essential to improve the efficiency of a recycling route. To exemplify, the element gallium, which has a recycling appeal from the LEDs, is present in a larger quantity in the printed circuit boards. The study also provides an analysis of the materials recycling rates and economic values, and the comparison with the concentration of natural ores. Thus, it was possible to discuss about target components and materials and the recycling alternatives for each component. LED lamps contain interesting materials, with even higher concentrations than natural ores, such as gold, silver, copper, aluminum, tin and gallium. If recycled, tubular lamps and bulb lamps would have the economic recovery of USD 2405.99 and USD 2595.02 per ton, respectively. The gold was found to be the most valuable material, and the LEDs the most valuable component of the LED lamps.
LED 灯具已经占据了通用照明市场。这种新产品将产生大量的电子垃圾，需要进行研究以正确管理，特别是要考虑回收替代方案。本研究对所有管状和灯泡 LED 灯部件（灯体、LED、印刷电路板和 LED 模块）进行了材料特性分析。在手动拆卸后，使用傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）对聚合物进行了表征，使用 X 射线荧光（XRF）和酸浸提后进行 ICP-OES 分析对金属进行了表征。通过分离和表征 LED 灯组件的新颖性，这是一个尚未研究过的过程，研究结果可以更好地解释灯内不同材料的分布，这对于提高回收途径的效率至关重要。例如，从 LED 中回收有吸引力的元素镓在印刷电路板中的含量更大。该研究还提供了对材料回收率和经济价值的分析，并与天然矿石的浓度进行了比较。因此，可以讨论目标组件和材料以及每个组件的回收替代方案。LED 灯具含有有趣的材料，其浓度甚至高于天然矿石，例如金、银、铜、铝、锡和镓。如果进行回收，管状灯和灯泡灯每吨分别可实现 2405.99 美元和 2595.02 美元的经济回收。金被发现是最有价值的材料，而 LED 则是 LED 灯具最有价值的部件。
