Recovery of base and precious metals from PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards) in waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)

Natural minerals are a powerful tool in politics when some have a major role in production. Its depletion is now a hot topic worldwide. Thus, the safety of the environment, natural surface water, groundwater and the protection of soils from chronic contamination by metallic and inorganic elements is a global concern. Indeed, industrialization and development have led to the generation of huge and varied amounts of waste, including electronic waste (e-waste), which is released into the environment. Although e-waste is classified as hazardous, most of it is not recycled and developed countries with strict environmental protection legislation send most of their e-waste to developing countries where regulations are lax. These electronic devices and components after being used are simply dumped into the environment due to lack of treatment and recycling strategy. As a result, they become a threat to the environment, ecosystems and humans. African countries are among the most vulnerable nations. But they are unfortunately ignored and underestimated. To date, there is no e-waste recycling unit (factory) in most African countries and mainly in the Republic of Benin. In response to this challenge, this study explored the different techniques used for the recycling of waste electrical/electronic equipment in order to develop a new environmentally friendly approach in future work, for the extraction and recycling of the usual and valuable metallic elements contained in electronic waste (printed circuit boards) released into the environment. For this purpose, a bibliographic research was carried out from 20 April to 16 October 2021. The results obtained allowed us to identify the advantages and disadvantages of existing recycling methods.

Methods for detecting and correcting errors in irregular structures under the influence of heavy charged particles

The paper considers methods of increasing the durability of radio-electronic equipment in space, namely, methods of detecting and correcting errors during the action of the HCP. Currently, redundancy methods are used to ensure durability, when two or three processors work in parallel in the system, and a special node compares the results of their work. If the results do not match, an error signal will be generated, and the system will begin to perform actions to correct it. The article describes and classifies the main circuit, structural-functional, algorithmic methods for detecting and correcting errors. It is shown that circuit solutions lead to an increase in the crystal area. Therefore, the problem arises of ensuring radiation resistance with a minimum increase in the crystal area.

Sensitivity analysis and test results of the electronic component base to the effects of heavy charged particles

The work is devoted to the study of the sensitivity of the electronic component base (ECB) to the effects of heavy charged particles. At the same time, the degree of sensitivity is distinguished depending on the functional group of ECB products to the effects of ionization radiation from outer space and on the design and technological design of ECB products. The paper presents the characteristics and conditions for the use of ECB in the radio-electronic equipment of outer space to ensure minimal sensitivity to the effects of ionization radiation and to the thyristor effect. After the sensitivity analysis of ECB products is carried out, a preliminary selection of ECB is performed, requiring testing. The article discusses the criteria for determining the ECB that requires testing and is possible to use without testing. The methods of increasing the durability of radio-electronic equipment of space equipment and the directions of optimization of the methodology of analysis of ECB lists are determined.

The Electronic Waste Management Crisis- A Situation Analysis of Zambia

Globally, the technological era has seemingly increased the environmental burden of many Low income countries in the management of electronic waste. An increase in the use of electrical and electronic equipment potentially relates to an increase in e-waste in the environment. Poorly managed ewaste degrades the environment in various ways such as through percolation of toxicants into the soils and leaching into aquatic systems. As Zambia steadily develops, the use of EEEs is a major threat in the increased amounts of e-waste thus placing more demand on environmental institutions as well as wellestablished and sustainable e-waste management systems. Environmental issues are complex and diverse, in this view; waste management is an integral part of a sustainable environment thus making effective electronic waste management categorically fundamental. This study employed a mixed method approach (concurrent nested) to assess the effectiveness of electronic waste management facilities in Lusaka. In this study, the inclusion and exclusion criteria were used so as to select the participants by use of questionnaires and interviews. This study showed that in Zambia, e-waste has not been given the same attention as other waste types. The knowledge base of electrical and electronic equipment users is very shallow as this study indicated that most EEE consumers have little or no knowledge of the toxic components of electronic waste. Further, available environmental institutions do not currently have the capacity to quantify e-waste that is generated in the country. Moreover, the e-waste that is appropriately disposed of is exported to neighboring countries recycling. The study concluded that Zambia lacks the needed expertise and facilities to adequately handle e-waste. However, information obtained from EEE users and e-waste generators clearly indicated that inasmuch as there could be efforts by environmental institutions to manage e-waste, there hasn’t been local authority effort to specifically handle e-waste or rather sensitize the users of EEEs on e-waste issues. The study thus recommended the following; creation of e-waste black market, further Studies, Laws to prohibit dumping of e-waste, Promotion of E-waste education amongst EEE users, Promotion of E-waste education amongst EEE users, Repurpose old devices before purchasing new ones.