2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Materials
In this research, we have used single/double sided PCBs which was provided by Steinert Company, Melbourne, Australia. The PCBs were crushed in a hammer before using it. To determine the elemental composition of waste PCBs, Laser induced - Inductive Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) spectrometry analysis was carried out and the Pb concentration was found to be 20206 μg/g. The detailed ICP results are illustrated in figure 1 of the supporting information.
2.2. Pyrolysis process
The pyrolysis experiments of waste PCBs were carried out in argon atmosphere in horizontal tubular furnace (Figure 2). The crushed PCBs were pyrolyzed at different temperatures for the period of 20 minutes to recycle NMFs and also to study the leaching of lead with temperature. The weight of the sample used in each pyrolysis experiment was around 2 gm. The samples were placed into ceramic boat and fed into hot zone of a reactor. After the thermal treatment, the metallic part could be easily separated from the non-metallic residue/fractions. The NMFs were collected for further analytical investigation to analyse the lead and other toxic metals content. All experiments were repeated at different temperature to enhance the reproducibility of the results.