pXRF on printed circuit boards: Methodology, applications, and challenges

•Content of 10 metals in waste PCBs determined using portable X-ray fluorescence.•Effects of sample mass, grain size and number of replicates evaluated.•Nugget effect identified in Ni, Cr, Pd and Mo distributions.•pXRF on sample ground to 200 µm gives robust results for Cu, Sn, Zn, Pb, Ni, Sb and Mo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Waste management (Elmsford) 2022-06, Vol.146, p.66-76
Main Authors: Touzé, Solène, Laperche, Valérie, Hubau, Agathe, Moreau, Pauline
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Characterisation
Earth Sciences
Metals
pXRF
Sampling
Sciences of the Universe
Urban mining
Waste printed circuit board
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Summary:•Content of 10 metals in waste PCBs determined using portable X-ray fluorescence.•Effects of sample mass, grain size and number of replicates evaluated.•Nugget effect identified in Ni, Cr, Pd and Mo distributions.•pXRF on sample ground to 200 µm gives robust results for Cu, Sn, Zn, Pb, Ni, Sb and Mo. In order to develop methods to determine the chemical composition of Waste Printed Circuit Boards (WPCB), this study focused on the analysis of 10 metals (Cu, Fe, Sn, Zn, Pb, Ni, Sb, Cr, Mo and Pd) using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) compared to ICP-MS measurements after aqua regia digestion. Different experimental conditions were tested: 3 particle sizes (200 µm, 750 µm and 2 mm) and 3 sample preparations (tube, cup and loose powder). For each condition tested, 8–16 independent replicates were done. ICP measurements with the 200 µm sample, considered as the reference condition in this study, confirmed the homogeneity of the sample at this particle size and the robustness of the sampling protocol (RSD 
ISSN:0956-053X
1879-2456
DOI:10.1016/j.wasman.2022.05.001