Waste SMD LEDs from End-of-Life Residential LED Lamps: Presence and Characterisation of Rare Earth Elements and Precious Metals as a Function of Correlated Colour Temperature
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Energy consumption in buildings is also linked to lighting technology. Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology includes lamps and luminaires for general lighting applications. Due to their structure, LED lamps are expected to generate specific e-waste streams. LEDs are the main source of luminous flux and their elemental composition is of particular interest to the recycling sector. In this study, surface mount device (SMD) LEDs from six types of LED lamps (E27, E14, G9, R7S, GU10 and MR16) were removed, collected, separated by correlated colour temperature (CCT) (2700 K, 3000 K, 4000 K and 6500 K) and characterised for the presence of rare earth elements and precious metals. They were digested with HNO3 and aqua regia in a hot plate and characterised by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The concentration of each element as a function of CCT ranged between: lanthanum (242 - 1,840) mg kg-1, cerium (132 - 284) mg kg-1, europium (15 - 69) mg kg-1, gadolinium (1.9 - 3.8) mg kg-1, terbium (0.1 - 0.4) mg kg-1, lutetium (29 - 6,381) mg kg-1, yttrium (4,804 - 11,551) mg kg-1, silver (2,712 - 5,262) mg kg-1, gold (502 - 956) mg kg-1 and palladium (32 - 110) mg kg-1. These results indicate the need for selective removal and separate recycling processes of SMD LEDs from LED lamps.
Source: Recycling
Language: English
Subfield: Waste Management and Disposal
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,046
OpenAlex ID: W4405697950