A novel reutilization method for waste printed circuit boards as flame retardant and smoke suppressant for poly (vinyl chloride)

•We report a novel electronic waste-based flame retardant for PVC.•The SCWO-treated PCBs significantly improves the flame retardancy of PVC.•The flame retardant mechanism of SCWO-treated PCBs was studied.•Appropriate amount flame retardant does not degrade the mechanical property of PVC. In this stu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of hazardous materials 2016-09, Vol.315, p.102-109
Main Authors: Xiu, Fu-Rong, Weng, Huiwei, Qi, Yingying, Yu, Gending, Zhang, Zhigang, Zhang, Fu-Shen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Boards
CHLORIDES
CIRCUIT BOARDS
COPPER OXIDE
CUPRIC OXIDE
CUPROUS OXIDE
Flame retardant
Flame retardants
FLAMMABILITY
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
POLLUTION
Polyvinyl chlorides
PRINTED CIRCUITS
PVC
Retarding
Reutilization
Smoke
Smoke suppressant
Waste PCB
Wastes
WEEE
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Summary:•We report a novel electronic waste-based flame retardant for PVC.•The SCWO-treated PCBs significantly improves the flame retardancy of PVC.•The flame retardant mechanism of SCWO-treated PCBs was studied.•Appropriate amount flame retardant does not degrade the mechanical property of PVC. In this study, a novel reutilization method for waste printed circuit boards (PCBs) as flame retardant and smoke suppressant for poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC) was successfully testified. A supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) process was applied to treat waste PCBs before they could be used as flame retardants of PVC. The results indicated that SCWO conditions had a significant effect on the flame retarding and smoke suppressing properties of waste PCBs for PVC. Cu2O, CuO, and SnO2 were the main active ingredients in waste PCBs-derived flame retardants. A conversion of Cu elements (Cu0→Cu+→Cu2+) during SCWO process with the increase of reaction temperature was found to be the key influence factor for the flame retarding properties of SCWO-treated PCBs. The experiment results also showed that there was a synergistic effect of flame retardancy between Cu+ and Cu2+. After the optimized SCWO treatment, SCWO-treated PCBs significantly improved the flame retardancy and smoke suppression of PVC. Limiting oxygen index (LOI) and char yield (CY) increased with increasing SCWO-treated PCBs content in PVC, while smoke density rating (SDR) and maximum smoke density (MSD) decreased markedly. The mechanical properties of PVC samples were influenced in different degree by adding different content SCWO-treated PCBs.
ISSN:0304-3894
1873-3336
DOI:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2016.04.076