Recycling of Plastics from E-Waste via Photodegradation in a Low-Pressure Reactor: The Case of Decabromodiphenyl Ether Dispersed in Poly(acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) and Poly(carbonate)

Hussam Aldoori; Zohra Bouberka; Hervé Feuchter; Skander Khelifi; Franck Poutch; Loic Brison; Fouad Laoutid; Stijn Steuperaert; Corinne Foissac; Philippe Supiot; Christian Malas; Ulrich Maschke

doi:10.3390/molecules28062491

Recycling of Plastics from E-Waste via Photodegradation in a Low-Pressure Reactor: The Case of Decabromodiphenyl Ether Dispersed in Poly(acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) and Poly(carbonate)

Molecules. 2023 Mar 8;28(6):2491. doi: 10.3390/molecules28062491.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Unité Matériaux et Transformations-UMET, UMR 8207, University of Lille, CNRS, INRAE, Centrale Lille, 59000 Lille, France.
² Laboratoire Physico-Chimie des Matériaux-Catalyse et Environnement (LPCMCE), Université des Sciences et de la Technologie d'Oran-Mohamed Boudiaf (USTOMB), Oran 31000, Algeria.
³ CREPIM, Rue Christophe Colomb, Parc de la Porte Nord, 62700 Bruay-la-Buissière, France.
⁴ Materia Nova Research Center, Laboratory of Polymeric and Composite Materials (SMPC), 7000 Mons, Belgium.
⁵ Centexbel, Technologiepark 70, 9052 Gent-Zwijnaarde, Belgium.
⁶ Institut Chevreul, Cité Scientifique, Avenue Paul Langevin, 59655 Villeneuve d'Ascq, France.

Abstract

Recycling of plastic waste from electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), containing brominated flame retardants (BFR) remains difficult due to the increasingly stringent regulations on their handling and recovery. This report deals with photodegradation in a low-pressure reactor applying UV-visible light on Decabromodiphenyl ether (DBDE or BDE-209) randomly dispersed in commercially available Poly(acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) (ABS) and Poly(carbonate) (PC). The aim of this study is to investigate the possibility of decomposing a BFR in plastic waste from EEE while maintaining the specifications of the polymeric materials in order to allow for their recycling. The photodegradation of the extracted BFR was monitored using infrared spectroscopy and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy. DBDE underwent rapid photodegradation during the first minutes of exposure to UV-visible light and reached degradation yields superior to 90% after 15 min of irradiation. The evaluation of polymer properties (ABS and PC) after irradiation revealed superficial crosslinking effects, which were slightly accelerated in the presence of DBDE. However, the use of a low-pressure reactor avoids large photooxidation and allowed to maintain the thermal and structural properties of the virgin polymers.

Keywords: Poly(acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene); Poly(carbonate); brominated flame retardant; decabromodiphenylether; photodegradation; recycling; waste from electrical and electronic equipment.

Grants and funding

This research was co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Wallonne region, and the Flemish region (Agentschap innoveren and ondernemen (VLAIO)), in the framework of the INTERREG FWVL V programme (VALBREE project 2018–2022 (https://valbree.univ-lille.fr/), accessed on 23 December 2022). The APC was funded by MDPI and by the University of Lille/France.