Thermal plasma treatment of mobile phone waste under reduced condition

Primitive recycling or disposal of cell phone waste to landfills and incinerators causes irreversible environmental damage by polluting water and soil, and contaminating air. In this work, the treatment of mobile phone wastes by thermal plasma under reducing condition has been investigated. During the process, the combustible reformed gas was recovered. The experimental results show that gaseous by-products are of CO, H₂ and hydrocarbons (CxHy). Generation of hydrogen gas of high concentration is from the hydrogen of the plastic part of the cell phone waste. Formation of hydrocarbons is also from the carbon and hydrogen part of the cell phone waste. CO₂ generation is almost below the detection limit. No significant other toxic gases such as NO_x and H₂S were observed. The effect of magnetic separation of the mobile phone waste was also investigated which not only affects trace metal concentration, but also gaseous by-products.