This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.
Open AccessReview
Thermal and Catalytic Recycling of Plastics from Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment—Challenges and Perspectives
by
Dimitris S. Achilias
Dimitris S. Achilias 1,*
,
Maria-Anna Charitopoulou
Maria-Anna Charitopoulou 1 and
Stefano Vecchio Ciprioti
Stefano Vecchio Ciprioti 2
1
Laboratory of Polymer and Colours Chemistry and Technology, Department of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
2
Department of Basic and Applied Sciences for Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Polymers 2024, 16(17), 2538; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16172538 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 6 May 2024
/
Revised: 24 July 2024
/
Accepted: 4 September 2024
/
Published: 7 September 2024
Abstract
The amount of end-of-life electrical and electronic devices has been widely increased, globally. This emphasizes how recycling waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) is essential in order to reduce the amount of WEEE that is disposed of directly in the environment. Plastics account for a big percentage in WEEE, almost 20%. As a result, the application of recycling methods on plastics gathered from WEEE is of great importance since, in this way, landfill disposal can be reduced. Nevertheless, despite the advantages, there are a lot of difficulties, such as the variety of different plastics present in the plastic mix and the existence of various additives in the plastic parts, for instance, brominated flame retardants that need special attention during their treatments, which restricts their wide application. Considering all these, this review aims to provide readers with all the current techniques and perspectives that are available for both the thermal and the catalytic recycling of plastics retrieved from WEEE. Apart from the up-to-date information on the recycling methods, in this review, emphasis is also given on the advantages each method offers and also on the difficulties and the limitations that may prevent them from being applied on a large scale. Current challenges are critically examined, including the use of mechanical or thermo-chemical recycling, the treatment of individual polymers or polymer blends and the separation of harmful additives before recycling or not. Finally, emerging technologies are briefly discussed.
Share and Cite
MDPI and ACS Style
Achilias, D.S.; Charitopoulou, M.-A.; Ciprioti, S.V.
Thermal and Catalytic Recycling of Plastics from Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment—Challenges and Perspectives. Polymers 2024, 16, 2538.
https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16172538
AMA Style
Achilias DS, Charitopoulou M-A, Ciprioti SV.
Thermal and Catalytic Recycling of Plastics from Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment—Challenges and Perspectives. Polymers. 2024; 16(17):2538.
https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16172538
Chicago/Turabian Style
Achilias, Dimitris S., Maria-Anna Charitopoulou, and Stefano Vecchio Ciprioti.
2024. "Thermal and Catalytic Recycling of Plastics from Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment—Challenges and Perspectives" Polymers 16, no. 17: 2538.
https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16172538
Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details
here.
Article Metrics
Article Access Statistics
For more information on the journal statistics, click
here.
Multiple requests from the same IP address are counted as one view.