Development and application of reference and routine analytical methods providing SI-traceable results for the determination of technology-critical elements in PCB from WEEE

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Giancarlo D'Agostino
  • Marcus Oelze
  • Jochen Vogl
  • Jean Philippe Ghestem
  • Nicolas Lafaurie
  • Ole Klein
  • Daniel Pröfrock
  • Marco Di Luzio
  • Luigi Bergamaschi
  • Radojko Jaćimović
  • Caroline Oster
  • Anita Röthke
  • Lena Michaliszyn
  • Axel Pramann
  • Olaf Rienitz
  • Timo Sara-Aho
  • Oktay Cankur
  • Derya Kutan
  • Johanna Noireaux

External Organisational units

  • University of Pavia
  • Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und –prüfung (BAM)
  • Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM)
  • Institute of Coastal Research
  • Department for Nanostructured Materials, Jožef Stefan Institute
  • Laboratoire Nationale des Essais et de la métrologie (LNE)
  • Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
  • Finnish Environment Institute (Syke)
  • National Metrology Institute of Turkey (TUBITAK)
  • Gebze Technical University

Abstract

The recovery and reprocessing of technology-critical elements (TCE) present in printed circuit boards (PCB) from electrical and electronic waste is essential both for recycling valuable materials subject to supply risk and for reducing the environmental impact. Although the quantitative knowledge of TCE amounts in end-of-life PCB plays a key role, there are neither matrix certified reference materials nor harmonized analytical methods available to establish the traceability of the results to the International System of Units. To fill these gaps, we developed and applied five reference analytical methods based on ICP-MS standard addition calibrations and INAA k0- and relative calibrations suitable to certify reference materials. In addition, we developed and tested six analytical methods based on more commonly used ICP-MS external standard calibrations to provide industry with routine analysis methods. Twenty TCE (Ag, Au, Co, Cu, Dy, Ga, Gd, Ge, In, La, Li, Nd, Ni, Pd, Pr, Pt, Rh, Sm, Ta and Ti) were selected as target analytes and a batch of powdered PCB was used as measurement material. An overall mutual agreement was observed among data collected by reference methods at a few percent relative uncertainty levels. Moreover, all but one of the methods developed for routine analysis demonstrated their suitability in industrial applications by producing data within ± 20% of the values established with reference methods.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2809-2823
Number of pages15
JournalJournal of analytical atomic spectrometry
Volume39.2024
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 18 Sept 2024