Chemical exploratory analysis of printed circuit board (Pcb) using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (icp oes): Data treatment and elements correlation

Abstract

Electronic waste is the fastest growing class of residue in the world. This material presents several electric and electronic equipment (EEE) with a huge amount of base, valuable and toxic elements, thus increasing its recycling interest. This study is aimed to perform an exploratory analysis of printed circuit board (PCB) using In-ductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES). A PCB from hard disk (HD) was split in 77 sub-samples using a lathe following by mineralization pro-cess. This step was conducted without milling process. So, the sub-samples were weighted and mixed with concentrated aqua regia solution, followed by mineralization using microwave oven radiation. Twenty elements were determined by ICP OES (Al, Au, Ba, Ca, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Nd, Ni, Pb, Pd, Pt, Sb, Sn, Ti and Zn), and Flame atomic absorption spectrometry-FAAS (Ag). With the concentration results, several graphical analyzes were performed: (1) scores map and loading plot; (2) correlation plot and; (3) PCB element distribution maps. With this exploratory analysis, it was possible visualize and understand the data, observing correlations among the ele-ments, how close these correlations are and how is this correlation around the PCB components. This strategy was a good way to observe the PCB complexity and the importance of recycling these materials.