The world is digitalizing and moving more towards advanced technological and economic development. The use of sophisticated technological equipment has also surged. This has led to a rapid production of electrical and electronic equipment and their consumption, which in turn has led to drastic increase in amount of e-waste. The quantities of e-waste or waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) are increasing globally and causing detrimental effects on the environment and ecosystem. Their disposal is a concern and needs to be addressed in a most efficient and effective manner considering both the economic and environmental perspective. The European Commission has framed a set of directives, called waste management directives, to guarantee proper and legal management of e-waste. They must be followed to ensure the ideal waste management. This research is based on treatment of e-waste coming from a low voltage circuit-breaker produced by ABB Ltd. The representative of our e-waste is the circuit-breaker which is primarily composed of metals (80%) and plastics (20%). Metals are the valuable entities in e-waste and are recovered in first step of treatment. That is, we send the e-waste to pre-processing unit as metal recovery is highly beneficial both from environmental and economic point of view. The impact of the metal recovery is assessed using LCA tool, Simapro. The evaluation is carried out considering the functional unit as treatment of 1 ton of WEEE. The results show low environmental impact along with production of secondary raw material. On the other hand, treatment of plastic fraction of e-waste, called WEEP, is the principal focus of our research. The treatment of plastic waste is complex because of several types of polymers and their properties. In the treatment of WEEP, we have modelled different waste management scenarios and they are assessed for their performance in Simapro. This tool helps us to finalize the best and the worst performer within the group of modelled scenarios. The scenarios include various treatment processes such as remanufacturing, incineration, pyrolysis, and distillation. Our effort will be to maximize the energy, material and resource recovery from WEEP treatment. In total, we have modelled 7 waste treatment routes. The evaluation of these scenarios in Simapro is based on the functional unit of treatment of 1 ton of WEEP. From the LCA results, we see scenario involving improper treatment are worst while as proper treatment methods with efficient set-up show better results. The only time when WEEP is exposed to improper treatment is when it’s exported to other countries. These countries opt for the illegal and improper ways to treat WEEP. The scenario including export of WEEP is scenario 0 and from the results it is concluded to be the worst of all in almost every impact category as it shows a very high impact on environment. Other scenarios show a gradual improvement when waste segregation along with proper processes are employed. The best scenario is named 4A, and the processes involved in it are pyrolysis, distillation and remanufacturing, this scenario shows the lowest impact on environment due to its operation and production of secondary raw materials such as light fuel oil, polymers, inorganic filler and others. For climate change category, Scenario 0 is 2.3 times more impacting than scenario 4A. The weighted results also show that scenario 0 is 1.5 times more impacting than scenario 4A.
Il mondo si sta digitalizzando e si sta muovendo sempre più verso uno sviluppo tecnologico ed economico avanzato. Anche l'uso di sofisticate apparecchiature tecnologiche è aumentato. Ciò ha portato a una rapida produzione di apparecchiature elettriche ed elettroniche e al loro consumo, che a sua volta ha portato a un drastico aumento della quantità di rifiuti elettronici. Le quantità di rifiuti elettronici o di apparecchiature elettriche ed elettroniche (RAEE) stanno aumentando a livello globale, causando effetti dannosi sull'ambiente e sull'ecosistema. Il loro smaltimento è un problema e deve essere affrontato nel modo più efficiente ed efficace, considerando sia la prospettiva economica che quella ambientale. La Commissione Europea ha formulato una serie di direttive, denominate direttive sulla gestione dei rifiuti, per garantire una gestione corretta e legale dei rifiuti elettronici. Questa ricerca si basa sul trattamento dei rifiuti elettronici provenienti da un interruttore di bassa tensione prodotto da ABB Ltd, composto principalmente da metalli (80%) e plastica (20%). I metalli sono i materiali di maggior valore presenti nei rifiuti elettronici e vengono pertanto recuperati nella prima fase del trattamento. I rifiuti elettronici vengono infatti inviati all'unità di pretrattamento poiché il recupero dei metalli è altamente vantaggioso sia dal punto di vista ambientale che economico. L'impatto del recupero del metallo viene valutato utilizzando il software LCA Simapro. La valutazione viene effettuata considerando come unità funzionale il trattamento di 1 tonnellata di RAEE. I risultati mostrano un basso impatto ambientale, legato alla produzione di materia prima secondaria. D'altra parte, il trattamento della frazione plastica dei rifiuti elettronici, identificata dalla sigla WEEP, è l'obiettivo principale della nostra ricerca. Il trattamento dei rifiuti di plastica è complesso a causa di diversi tipi di polimeri e delle loro proprietà. Nel trattamento del WEEP, sono stati modellati diversi scenari di gestione dei rifiuti e ne è stato valutato l’impatto ambientale in Simapro. Questo strumento ci aiuta a individuare il rendimento migliore e quello peggiore all'interno del gruppo di scenari modellati. Gli scenari includono vari processi di trattamento come riciclo meccanico, incenerimento, pirolisi e distillazione. In totale, sono stati modellati 7 scenari di trattamento dei rifiuti. La valutazione di questi scenari in Simapro si basa sull'unità funzionale di trattamento di 1 tonnellata di WEEP. Dai risultati dell'LCA, si nota come lo scenario che prevede l’uso di trattamenti impropri (esportazione, discarica e incenerimento all’aria aperta) risulti peggiore, mentre gli scenari adeguati con sistemi di trattamento efficienti, mostrano risultati migliori. L'unico caso in cui WEEP è esposto a un trattamento improprio è quando viene esportato in altri paesi. Questi paesi optano per i modi illegali e impropri per trattare il WEEP. Lo scenario che include l'esportazione di WEEP è lo scenario 0 e dai risultati si conclude che è il peggiore in quasi tutte le categorie di impatto. Altri scenari mostrano un graduale miglioramento quando vengono impiegate tecniche di smistamento dei rifiuti insieme a processi di trattamento adeguati. Lo scenario migliore (scenario 4A) coinvolge processi di pirolisi, distillazione e riciclo meccanico; questo scenario mostra il minor impatto sull'ambiente grazie al suo funzionamento e alla produzione di materie prime secondarie come olio combustibile leggero, polimeri, riempitivi inorganici e altri. Per la categoria dei cambiamenti climatici, lo scenario 0 ha un impatto 2,3 volte maggiore rispetto allo scenario 4A. I risultati ponderati (single score) rivelano come scenario 0 abbia un impatto 1,5 volte maggiore rispetto allo scenario 4A
Comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of different waste treatment scenarios for plastic fraction of e-waste
Mir, Basit Afaq
2021/2022
Abstract
The world is digitalizing and moving more towards advanced technological and economic development. The use of sophisticated technological equipment has also surged. This has led to a rapid production of electrical and electronic equipment and their consumption, which in turn has led to drastic increase in amount of e-waste. The quantities of e-waste or waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) are increasing globally and causing detrimental effects on the environment and ecosystem. Their disposal is a concern and needs to be addressed in a most efficient and effective manner considering both the economic and environmental perspective. The European Commission has framed a set of directives, called waste management directives, to guarantee proper and legal management of e-waste. They must be followed to ensure the ideal waste management. This research is based on treatment of e-waste coming from a low voltage circuit-breaker produced by ABB Ltd. The representative of our e-waste is the circuit-breaker which is primarily composed of metals (80%) and plastics (20%). Metals are the valuable entities in e-waste and are recovered in first step of treatment. That is, we send the e-waste to pre-processing unit as metal recovery is highly beneficial both from environmental and economic point of view. The impact of the metal recovery is assessed using LCA tool, Simapro. The evaluation is carried out considering the functional unit as treatment of 1 ton of WEEE. The results show low environmental impact along with production of secondary raw material. On the other hand, treatment of plastic fraction of e-waste, called WEEP, is the principal focus of our research. The treatment of plastic waste is complex because of several types of polymers and their properties. In the treatment of WEEP, we have modelled different waste management scenarios and they are assessed for their performance in Simapro. This tool helps us to finalize the best and the worst performer within the group of modelled scenarios. The scenarios include various treatment processes such as remanufacturing, incineration, pyrolysis, and distillation. Our effort will be to maximize the energy, material and resource recovery from WEEP treatment. In total, we have modelled 7 waste treatment routes. The evaluation of these scenarios in Simapro is based on the functional unit of treatment of 1 ton of WEEP. From the LCA results, we see scenario involving improper treatment are worst while as proper treatment methods with efficient set-up show better results. The only time when WEEP is exposed to improper treatment is when it’s exported to other countries. These countries opt for the illegal and improper ways to treat WEEP. The scenario including export of WEEP is scenario 0 and from the results it is concluded to be the worst of all in almost every impact category as it shows a very high impact on environment. Other scenarios show a gradual improvement when waste segregation along with proper processes are employed. The best scenario is named 4A, and the processes involved in it are pyrolysis, distillation and remanufacturing, this scenario shows the lowest impact on environment due to its operation and production of secondary raw materials such as light fuel oil, polymers, inorganic filler and others. For climate change category, Scenario 0 is 2.3 times more impacting than scenario 4A. The weighted results also show that scenario 0 is 1.5 times more impacting than scenario 4A.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/191716