Assessment of tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA) content in plastic waste recovered from WEEE

Athanasia Kousaiti, John N Hahladakis, Vasiliki Savvilotidou, Kostyantyn Pivnenko, Konstantina Tyrovola, Nikolaos Xekoukoulotakis, Thomas Fruergaard Astrup, Evangelos Gidarakos*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    Due to the variability of additives and polymer types used in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), and in accordance with the European Directive 2012/19/EU, an implementation of sound management practices is necessary. This work focuses on assessing the content of tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA) in acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), polypropylene (PP), polycarbonate (PC) and their polymer blends (i.e. PC/ABS). A total of 36 plastic housing samples originating from microwave ovens, electric irons, vacuum cleaners and DVD/CD players were subjected to microwave-assisted-extraction (MAE) and/or ultrasound-assisted-extraction (UAE). Maximum mean concentration values of TBBPA measured in DVD/CD players and vacuum cleaners ranged between 754-1146 μg/kg, and varied per polymer type, as follows: 510-2515 μg/kg in ABS and 55-3109 μg/kg in PP. The results indicated that MAE was more sufficient than UAE in the extraction of TBBPA from ABS. To optimize the UAE procedure, various solvents were tested. Higher amounts of TBBPA were obtained from ABS and PP using a binary mixture of a polar-non-polar solvent, isopropanol:n-hexane (1:1), whereas the sole use of isopropanol exhibited incomplete extraction.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number121641
    JournalJournal of Hazardous Materials
    Volume390
    Number of pages11
    ISSN0304-3894
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2020

    Keywords

    • WEEE
    • Plastic waste
    • Tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA)
    • Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS)
    • Microwave-assisted-extraction (MAE)

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