Electronic waste

With the rapid development of the semiconductor industry, the metallic and non-metallic components required during production, use and recycling may have significant negative impacts on the environment. E-waste is attracting increasing attention from relevant authorities and the general public.

During the final stage of an electronic waste item’s life cycle, certain volatile and semi-volatile organic pollutants (VOCs and SVOCs) are released, which can cause a degree of pollution to the air and water in both the workplace and the atmosphere.

Substances directly emitted from certain electronic components include brominated flame retardants (BFRs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organosilicon adhesives and other by-products.

Among these, brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have long-lasting effects on humans and the environment and can lead to bioaccumulation.

In the United States and European Union countries, the use of some BFRs has been banned or restricted, but they are still used in certain domestic plastic manufacturing processes.

A number of similar new compounds have also begun to be used in these chemical production processes, but relevant toxicity data are lacking.

Currently, the methods employed by some enterprises to analyse material emissions using GC-MS are mostly complex, time-consuming and labour-intensive, and are limited in the range of odour-causing substances they can detect.

The use of the ProC-TOF online mass spectrometer enables rapid, real-time detection of both conventional and unconventional odour-causing VOCs. Through a high-throughput headspace automatic sample introduction system at the front end, rapid analysis of hundreds or even thousands of samples can be achieved.