Romanian and Turkish Scientists Turn Circuit Boards into Bio Materials

E-waste plagues practically every country in the known world. There are some locales that are making decent headway in the battle to keep old CPUs out of the trash and among them are Romania and Turkey. Scientists in Romania and Turkey have succeeded in solving one of the world’s most perplexing environmental dilemmas - what to do with discarded circuit boards. Discarded circuit boards and other computer waste contain high levels of toxic chemicals including lead, mercury, antimony trioxide, arsenic, polybrominated flame redundant, cadmium, selenium, chromium, and cobalt. Statistics show that by 2010 approximately 100,000 mobile phones and 300,000 PCs will be thrown away, causing the distinct possibility that those toxins will leech out into the earth.

Through years of dedicated research, the Romanian and Turkish scientists have found a way to transform these pollutants into eco friendly bio-materials that may be used in various consumer products such as plastics and fuel.

The innovation was revealed in a report by the American Chemical Society but the research was done at the Petru Poni Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry in Romania and Ege University in Turkey. Researchers spent years working on this project until they were able to achieve positive results.

The scientists were able to convert the printed circuit boards into bio-materials by using a process involving thermal and catalytic pyrolysis. During the process, thermal and catalytic pyrolysis is effectively combined with dehalogenation, a technique used to remove halogen and hydrogen atoms. These two processes can create pyrolysis oils that may be suitable for use as an alternative fuel.