Content: What is Electronic Waste? How these become E-Waste Generation of E-waste by Countries Why E-Waste a Problem? Constituents of E-Waste E-Waste Processing steps Methods for E-Waste treatment Incineration – Process Description, Types, Advantage and Disadvantage Non-Incineration – Process Description, Types, Advantage and Disadvantage Did you know? Conclusion

1. Viable Electronic Waste Treatment
– Incineration vs Non Incineration
PRESENTED BY
Bhushan Shinde Rohit Shinde
Rohan Thomre Deepak Awhad

2. Content
 What is Electronic Waste?
 How these become E-Waste
 Generation of E-waste by Countries
 Why E-Waste a Problem?
 Constituents of E-Waste
 E-Waste Processing steps
 Methods for E-Waste treatment
 Incineration – Process Description, Types, Advantage and Disadvantage
 Non-Incineration – Process Description, Types, Advantage and Disadvantage
 Did you know?
 Conclusion

3. Today’s Electronic Gadgets,
Tomorrow’s Electronic Waste

4. What is Electronic Waste?
o It is the term used to describe old, end-of-
life or discarded appliances using electricity
and battery
o Computers, Cell Phones, televisions, VCRs,
stereos, copiers, and fax machines are
common electronic products

5. How these become E-Waste
Trends
 Changes and advancement in Technology
 Changes in fashion, style and status
 Changing configuration
 Attractive offers from manufacturers
 Small life of equipment
Effects of Trends
 Cell phone upgrades
 Digital TV conversion
 Can’t Change battery in your IPod
 Buy one and get one free offers
 Disposable printers

6. How these become E-Waste?
1.6 billion
Cell phones
manufactured in 2012.
Electronics are packed
with toxic chemicals—
arsenic, lead, and poly-
brominated flame
retardants.
18 months
That’s how short the
average American
keeps a cell phone
60%
wasted
Most of our e-waste
ends up in landfills—
both at home and in
the developing
world—where toxic
metals leach into the
environment.
30% lost
Even when recycled, a
significant amount of
electronic material
cannot be recovered.

7. Generation of E-waste by Countries

8. Why E-Waste a Problem?
 The electronic waste problem is huge: More than 20 million tons of e-waste are produced every year
globally
 Composed of Hazardous Materials
 Products are quickly obsolete and discarded
 Electronic products are difficult to Recycle

9. Constituents of E-Waste
Hazardous materials
 Mercury – Even low doses of mercury can be
toxic and may cause kidney and brain damage.
 Lead – Humans are very familiar with the
negative health effects of lead, including brain
damage, particularly in children.
 Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs) – BFRs are
known to negatively affect hormonal functions
that are essential for normal development.
 Cadmium – Cadmium has been shown to cause
cancer, and when it accumulates within the
body, it may result in kidney damage
Valuable materials
 Germanium, Indium, Gallium – Are needed in
semi conductor devices.
 Tin – For Soldering and coating.
 Copper – 110k – 130k kg/ton in cell phones
 Silver – 20 kg/ton in pin transistors
 Gold - 300-350 grams/ton in cell phones

10. E-Waste Processing steps

11. Methods for E-Waste Treatment
 3 R’s method: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle (This focuses on extracting maximum benefits and
generating minimum amount of waste)
 Incineration Techniques:
o Rotary kilns
o Fluidized bed units
o Liquid injection units
o Fixed hearth units
 Non-Incineration Techniques:
o Landfill
o Acid bath

12. Incineration
o This is a controlled way of disposing off the e-waste and it involves combustion of electronic waste
at high temperature in specially designed incinerators
o Incineration and other high-temperature waste treatment systems are described as "thermal
treatment".
o Incineration of waste materials converts the waste into ash, flue gas, and heat. The ash is mostly
formed by the inorganic constituents of the waste, and may take the form of solid lumps
or particulates carried by the flue gas.
o The flue gases must be cleaned of gaseous and particulate pollutants before they are dispersed into
the atmosphere. In some cases, the heat generated by incineration can be used to generate electric
power

13. Process Block Diagram

14. Process Description
 1. Waste Storage : Sufficient amount of waste is stored to run the incinerator which can be also
called as waste storage site.
 2. Combustion chamber : This is the key part of the system where the burning actually takes place.
There is a controllable supply of a secondary fuel such as natural gas. The amount of secondary fuel
supplied is adjusted to ensure the required temperature is reached.
 3. Energy Extraction : The hot exhaust or flue gases are passed through heat exchangers and the
heat removed is used to raise steam.
 4. Scrubber : It is used to clean the flue gases.
 5. Flue Gas Monitoring. Finally a thorough and continuous analysis of the exhaust is made to ensure
that amounts of harmful substances released are below the permitted levels.

15. Types of Incineration
 Rotary kilns
 Fluidized bed units
 Liquid injection units
 Fixed hearth units

16. Rotary kilns

17. Rotary kilns
o The most common combustion technology in hazardous waste incineration is the rotary kiln.
o Facilities range in size from 30,000 to 100,000 tons/year throughput.
o The RKI is a chemical reactor especially designed to burn solids, usually wastes that contaminate
adsorbents (such as fuller's earth soaked with crude oil from an oil spill, or soil contaminated by
liquids or solids in a landfill).
o Although rotary kilns are not specifically designed to burn gases, they are used for that purpose in
chemical manufacturing plants where advantage can be taken of pollution control equipment
associated with a rotary kiln burning other waste.
o The incineration of waste materials in a rotary kiln is an extremely complex process involving
physical movement of solids, liquids, and gases, in addition to chemical reactions.

18. Rotary kilns
o In Rotary kilns solid, sludge, containerized or pump able waste is introduced at the upper end of
the inclined drum.
o Temperatures in the kiln usually range between 850 and 13000C.
o The slow rotation of the drum allows a residence time of 30-90 minutes.
o The secondary combustion chamber following the kiln completes the oxidation of the combustion
gases.
o Liquid wastes and/or auxiliary fuels may be injected here along with secondary air to maintain a
minimum residence time of two seconds and temperatures in the range of 900-13000C, effectively
destroying any remaining organic compounds.

19. Advantages of Incineration
 Requires minimum land
 Can be operated in any weather
 Produces stable odor – free residue
 Refuse volume is reduced by half

20. Disadvantages of Incineration
 Expensive to build and operate
 High energy requirement
 Requires skilled personnel and continuous maintenance
 Emission of harmful gases
 Emission of cadmium and mercury

21. Non-Incineration Techniques
 Landfill
 Acid bath

22. Landfill Technique
 This is the most common methodology of e-waste disposal
 Landfills are often the most cost-efficient way to dispose of waste, especially in countries like the
United States with large open spaces
 However, landfill is not an environmentally sound process for disposing off the e-waste as toxic
substances like cadmium, lead and mercury are released inside the soil and ground water

23. Trench Method for Landfill
 Soil is excavated and trenches are made for
burying the e-waste in it
 An impervious liner is made of clay or plastic
with a leachate basin for collection and
transferring the e-waste to the treatment
plant

24. Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
 It is inexpensive
 The used piece of land can be reused for the
other community purposes
 Landfill gas can be upgraded to natural gas.
Disadvantages
 Completed landfill areas can settle and
requires maintenance
 E-waste dispose toxic substances like
cadmium, lead and mercury released inside
the soil and ground water

25. Acid Bath Method
 Acid bath involves soaking of the electronic circuits in the powerful sulphuric, hydrochloric or nitric
acid solutions that free the metals from the electronic pathways
 The recovered metal is used in the manufacturing of other products while the hazardous acid waste
finds its ways in the local water sources
 Acid baths also used to extraction of Gold and Silver.

26. Acid Bath Process
 Acid bath method is used to extract metals i.e.
Copper
 Here the circuit board is submerged in to
Sulfuric acid for about 12 hours to dissolve
Copper. Then solution is boiled, precipitated
Copper Sulfate is taken and remaining
solution is added with scraped particles,
subsequently Copper smudges are removed

27. Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
 Cheapest cleaning method available
 Low manpower and space required
Disadvantages
 Acid recovery systems are expensive
 Solvents used in the method are flammable so
greater handling risk
 Due to more corrosive towards metal, high
maintainance cost

28. Did you know?
 Mobile phone have a lifecycle of less than two years in developed countries
 The E waste generated is 3.16 million tons in the U.S.
 The United States and China are the world's biggest producers of electronic waste
 A recent United Nations study found the U.S. is the world’s biggest producer of electronic waste,
more than one million tons ahead of China
 By 2017, the volume of discarded e-products worldwide is expected to be 33 per cent higher than
in 2012 and weigh the equivalent of eight of the Great Pyramids of Egypt

29. Did you know?
 20–50 million tons of e-Waste are generated worldwide every year
 68% of US Consumers stockpile electronics
 E-Waste comprises 2% of America's trash in landfills and 70% of overall toxic waste
 300 million computers and 1 BILLION cell phones are put into production each year
 The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that only 15-20% of e-waste is recycled, the rest of
these electronics go directly into landfills and incinerators
 Approximately 80% of e-Waste in the U.S. is exported to Asia

30. Conclusion
 Probably many of us was not that much aware of E waste before this presentation. Like the other
pollutions E waste is also a major present and future issue for our planet.
 From all the facts, numbers, causes and effects of E waste we can conclude that the best way is to
imply 3 ‘R’ method i.e. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
 Both Incineration and Non-Incineration are hazardous to environment but we have to use it
anyways. Both techniques has its advantages and disadvantages depending the constituents of
waste MATERIAL in it.

31. A Small Awareness Video for E waste

32. Any Questions?

33. References:
 http://www.electronicstakeback.com/designed-for-the-dump/e-waste-in-landfills/
 http://www.npr.org/2010/12/21/132204954/after-dump-what-happens-to-electronic-waste
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaKLgovVkJQ
 http://www.pacebutler.com/blog/e-waste-disposal-methods-in-us/
 http://ewasteguide.info/empty_printed_wiring_board_recycling_acid_bath