Simultaneous recycling of waste solar panels and treatment of persistent organic compounds via supercritical water technology.

The study addresses the application of the supercritical water technology in the simultaneous recycling of obsolete solar panels and treatment of persistent organic compounds. The obsolete solar panels samples were characterized by TEM-EDS, SEM, TG-DTA, XRD, WDXRF, MP-AES and elemental analysis. Initially, the optimized parameters for the degradation of solid organic polymers present in residual solar panels via oxidation in supercritical water were defined by an experimental design. Under optimized conditions, 550 °C, reaction time of 60 min, volumetric flow rate of 10 mL min-1 and hydrogen peroxide as oxidant agent, real laboratory liquid wastewater was used as feed solution to achieve 99.6% of polymers degradation. After the reaction, the solid product free of organic matter was recovered and characterized. On average, a metal recovery efficiency of 76% was observed. Metals such as aluminum, magnesium, copper, and silver, that make up most of the metallic fraction, were identified. Only H2, N2 and CO2 were observed in the gaseous fraction. Then, initial data on the treatment of the liquid decomposition by-products, generated during ScW processing, were reported. A total organic carbon reduction of 99.9% was achieved after the subsequential treatment via supercritical water oxidation using the same experimental apparatus. Finally, insights on the scale-up, energy integration and implementation costs of a ScW solid processing industrial unit were presented using the Aspen Plus V9 software.

Valorization of e-waste via supercritical water technology: An approach for obsolete mobile phones.

The improper handling of electronic waste has not only severe environmental impacts but also results in the loss of high economic potential. To address this issue, the use of supercritical water (ScW) technology for the eco-friendly processing of waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) obtained from obsolete mobile phones has been explored in this study. The WPCBs were characterized via MP-AES, WDXRF, TG/DTA, CHNS elemental analysis, SEM and XRD. A L9 Taguchi orthogonal array design was employed to evaluate the impact of four independent variables on the organic degradation rate (ODR) of the system. After optimization, an ODR of 98.4% was achieved at a temperature of 600 °C, a reaction time of 50 min, a flowrate of 7 mL min-1, and the absence of an oxidizing agent. The removal of the organic content from the WPCBs resulted in an increase in the metal concentration, with up to 92.6% of the metal content being efficiently recovered. During the ScW process, the decomposition by-products were continuously removed from the reactor system through the liquid or gaseous outputs. The liquid fraction, which was composed of phenol derivatives, was treated using the same experimental apparatus, achieving a total organic carbon reduction of 99.2% at 600 °C using H2O2 as the oxidizing agent. The gaseous fraction was found to contain hydrogen, methane, CO2, and CO as the major components. Finally, the addition of co-solvents, namely ethanol and glycerol, enhanced the production of combustible gases during the ScW processing of WPCBs.