Characterization and Toxic Potency of Airborne Particles Formed upon Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment Waste Recycling: A Case StudyShow others and affiliations
2023 (English)In: ACS Environmental Au, ISSN 2694-2518, Vol. 3, no 6, p. 370-382Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Manual dismantling, shredding, and mechanical grinding of waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) at recycling facilities inevitably lead to the accidental formation and release of both coarse and fine particle aerosols, primarily into the ambient air. Since diffuse emissions to air of such WEEE particles are not regulated, their dispersion from the recycling plants into the adjacent environment is possible. The aim of this interdisciplinary project was to collect and characterize airborne WEEE particles smaller than 1 μm generated at a Nordic open waste recycling facility from a particle concentration, shape, and bulk and surface composition perspective. Since dispersed airborne particles eventually may reach rivers, lakes, and possibly oceans, the aim was also to assess whether such particles may pose any adverse effects on aquatic organisms. The results show that WEEE particles only exerted a weak tendency toward cytotoxic effects on fish gill cell lines, although the exposure resulted in ROS formation that may induce adverse effects. On the contrary, the WEEE particles were toxic toward the crustacean zooplankter Daphnia magna, showing strong effects on survival of the animals in a concentration-dependent way.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
American Chemical Society , 2023. Vol. 3, no 6, p. 370-382
National Category
Environmental Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ri:diva-68788DOI: 10.1021/acsenvironau.3c00034Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85178365949OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ri-68788DiVA, id: diva2:1827563
Funder
Mistra - The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental ResearchSwedish Research Council, 2018-07152Vinnova, 2018-04969Swedish Research Council Formas, 2019-02496
Note
Financial support from the Mistra Environmental Nanosafety Phase II research program funded by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research (Mistra) is highly acknowledged. We acknowledge MAX IV Laboratory for time on Balder beamline under proposal 20220629. Research conducted at MAX IV, a Swedish national user facility, is supported by the Swedish Research council under contract 2018-07152, the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems under contract 2018-04969, and Formas under contract 2019-02496. We acknowledge Monica Kåredahl for ICP-MS measurement and Mikael Elfman for PIXE analysis.
2024-01-152024-01-152024-01-15Bibliographically approved