Thermal degradation behavior of waste video cards using thermogravimetric analysis and pyrolysis gas chromatography/mass spectrometry techniques.

J Air Waste Manag Assoc 60(5):540-7 (2010) PMID 20480853

The thermal degradation characteristics of a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA), specifically video cards from waste computers, was studied using pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The video-card waste was dismantled into substrate, integrated circuits (ICs), and plastic slots for comparable investigation. The results by TGA revealed that the initial temperature at which degradation began was 300 degrees C for substrate, but it was 330 degrees C for ICs and plastic slots. For a given type of scrap, the initial temperature leading to degradation is the same under air and N2 atmosphere. However, the degradation rate was lower using air than N2 during the weight-loss stage. Further Py-GC/MS application revealed that pyrolysis products derived from substrate consisted mainly of acetone, bromotoluene, and phenol that came from the brominated epoxy resins present in substrate. Unlike substrate, the relative amounts of some products (e.g., phenol) were higher in the ICs, and cyclotetrasiloxane was released; these were released from the phenolic resins and Si mixture present in that type of waste. Benzoic acid, rather than acetone or phenol, was the main product released from plastic slots. It was proved that this scrap was a mixture of various polyesters, cracking of which predicatively generated aromatic products. The results will be useful in developing pyrolysis or starved-air incineration systems for thermosetting plastic and PCBA waste and helpful to control pollution during the treatment of this waste.