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Metals Content in Printed Circuit Board Waste
Jakub Szałatkiewicz
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Industrial Research Institute for Automation and Measurements,
Aleje Jerozolimskie 202, 02-486 Warszawa, Poland
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2014;23(6):2365-2369
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ABSTRACT
This paper an presents analysis of metals in waste of printed circuit boards (PCB) covering types of
PCB, segregated from PC computers, mobile phones, and mixed. The presented data identifies metals and
other substances found in PCB waste based on elemental and technical analysis of PCBs. PCB categorization
based on gold concentration is presented, resulting in two groups: electric and electronic PCBs. Then mass of
PCBs in waste of electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) is presented, and annual PCB mass is calculated
for collection in Polish WEEE. Finally, I present an analysis of metals values in PCBs pointing to gold, palladium,
and copper as the three the most valuable metals for recovery. This study presents an overview of
resources present in printed circuit boards.