TCLP Heavy Metal Leaching of Personal Computer Components

Abstract

Electronic waste (E-waste), including all obsolete electronic products, has become the fastest growing component in the solid waste stream. Personal computers (PCs)—the most significant component in E-waste stream—were studied for their potential leaching toxicity of contaminants. All the components in a PC that are composed of, or contain printed wire boards (PWBs) including the motherboard, various expansion cards, disk drives, and power supply unit were tested by the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP). The total contents of eight heavy metals including arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, selenium, and silver in the PWBs and their TCLP leaching from the PWBs were examined. Among these eight heavy metals lead was found to be the predominant element that causes the toxicity characteristic of the PC components. The lead concentrations in the TCLP extracts of the vast majority of the PWBs ranged from 150 to