Stocks and environmental release of mercury in backlight cold cathode fluorescence lamps

Abstract

Cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs), with mercury as their essential component, were widely used as backlight in liquid crystal display (LCD) appliances before 2008. Since 2008, the mercury-free light emitting diode started to be used as a substitute for CCFLs and the replacement finished in about 2014. Nowadays, CCFLs are obsolete products from the viewpoint of manufacture but they are important as waste. In recent years, large amounts of CCFLs are flowing to waste phase for treatment and this has become a major issue in most countries. To better understand and control the risk of CCFLs, the stock of mercury in CCFLs, its flow to waste phase and mercury emission with the life cycle of CCFLs in mainland China were estimated in this study. Results showed that there was 15.2 tons of mercury stocked in CCFLs in main LCD appliances (i.e., LCD televisions, LCD monitors, and laptop monitors) from 2003–2015. CCFLs and mercury started to flow to waste phase around the year 2007 and will likely peak in 2018 with an annual flow of 324.8 million units and 1.5 tons respectively, then will likely decline dramatically till 2030. Dismantling and production were the two main life stages of CCFLs with mercury vapor release, during which approximately 2.1 tons and 1.2 tons of mercury were released to the atmosphere respectively. The research also indicates that mercury recycling in specialized facilities was another life stage with high mercury emission risk in which the processes of shredding, separation, and residue disposal are inevitably accompanied by mercury release.

Keywords

Mercury cold cathode fluorescent lamps stock estimation environmental release Weibull distribution life cycle

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abbasi

Buser

Soehl

et al . (2015) Stocks and flows of PBDEs in products from use to waste in the U.S. and Canada from 1970 to 2020. Environmental Science & Technology 49: 1521–1528.

Asari

Fukui

Sakai

(2008) Life-cycle flow of mercury and recycling scenario of fluorescent lamps in Japan. Science of the Total Environment 393: 1–10.

Aucott

McLinden

Winka

(2003) Release of mercury from broken fluorescent bulbs. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association 53: 143–151.

Böni

Widmer

(2011) Disposal of flat panel display monitors in Switzerland. Swiss federal laboratories for material science and technology, SWICO recycling Final report, March 2011. Available at: www.swicorecycling.ch/downloads/dokumente/disposal-of-flat-panel-display-monitors-in-switzerland.pdf/1269 (accessed 12 December 2017).

Chang

Chen

Lee

et al . (2010) Mercury recovery from cold cathode fluorescent lamps using thermal desorption technology. Waste Management and Research 28: 455–460.

Chang

You

et al . (2007) The fate and management of high mercury-containing lamps from high technology industry. Journal of Hazardous Materials 141: 784–792.

Chang

You

et al . (2009) Treating high-mercury-containing lamps using full-scale thermal desorption technology. Journal of Hazardous Materials 162: 967–972.

China Electronic and Information Industry Statistical Yearbook (2003–2015). Beijing, China: Electronic Industry Press.

Cryan

Freegard

Morrish

et al . (2010) Demonstration of flat panel display recycling technologies. WRAP Final project report September 2010, Project code MDD014. Available at: http://www.votechnik.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Flat_Panel_Display_recycling_technology_report.e8556697.9820.pdf (accessed 21 March 2018).

10.

European Parliament and Council (2012) European Community Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32012L0019 (accessed 28 May 2018).

11.

Figi

Nagel

Hagendorfer

(2012) A straightforward wet-chemistry method for the determination of solid and gaseous mercury fractions in backlight cold cathode fluorescence lamps. Talanta 100: 134–138.

12.

Gensch

Zangl

Groß

et al . (2009) Excerpt of final report: Adaptation to scientific and technical progress under Directive 2002/95/EC. Freiburg, Germany: Öko-Institut e.V. Available at: http://rohs.exemptions.oeko.info/fileadmin/user_upload/RoHS_Pack_9/Exemption_1_f/Lighting_Europe/Exemption_1-4_Excerpt_report_2009.pdf (accessed 1 February 2018).

13.

Habuer Nakatani

Moriguchi

(2014) Time-series product and substance flow analyses of end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment in china. Waste Management 34: 489–497.

14.

Huang

(2013) LED market really goes mature in 2013. Magnetic Element and Power Supply 7: 61–63. [In Chinese.]

15.

Wang

(2013) Release characteristics of mercury in the backlight units during waste processing of LCDs. Journal of Tsinghua University 53: 526–530.

16.

Wang

Zhang

et al . (2013) Analysis on reduction trend of mercury releases from Chinese light source production industry for execution the global legally binding instrument on mercury. China Illuminating Engineering Journal 24: 23–26. [In Chinese.]

17.

McDonnell

Williams

(2010) The location and character of mercury in waste LCD backlights, Summary research report of WRAP, project code MDD028. Available at: http://www.wrapni.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Mercury%20in%20waste%20LCD%20backlights%20summary%20research%20report.pdf (accessed 15 June 2017).

18.

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) (2013). Roadmap on reducing mercury content in fluorescent lamps in China. Beijing, China.

19.

Mukherjee

Zevenhoven

Brodersen

et al . (2004) Mercury in waste in the European Union: Sources, disposal methods and risks. Resources Conservation & Recycling 42:155–182.

20.

Oguchi

Kamey

Yagi

et al . (2008) Product flow analysis of various consumer durables in Japan. Resources Conservation & Recycling 58: 463–480.

21.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2003) Technical guidance for the environmentally sound management of specific waste streams: used and scrap personal computers. No. 304. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Working Group on Waste Prevention and Recycling. Document: ENV/EPOC/WGWPR(2001)3/FINAL. Available at: http://archive.ban.org/library/OECDGuidelineWEEE.pdf (accessed 1 February 2018).

22.

Peeters

Vanegas

Duflou

et al . (2013) Effects of boundary conditions on the end-of-life treatment of LCD TVs. CIRP Annual – Manufacturing Engineering 62: 35–38.

23.

Raposo

Windmoller

Junior

WAD

(2003) Mercury speciation in fluorescent lamps by thermal release analysis. Waste Management 23: 879–886.

24.

Tan

(2014) A study of waste fluorescent lamp generation in mainland China. Journal of Cleaner Production 81: 227–233.

25.

Tan

(2016) Potential mercury emissions from fluorescent lamps production and obsolescence in mainland China. Waste Management & Research 34: 67–74.

26.

Tian

Sun

Pang

(2009) Present and development trend of glass tube used for TFT-LCD. In: China Silicate Glass Branch 2009 National Glass Science and Technology Annual Conference. Beijing, China: Beijing Industry University, pp. 191–196. [In Chinese.]

27.

Williams

McDonnell

(2010) Liquid crystal displays: environmental management in removal and recycling of mercury-containing backlights. Journal of Solid Waste Technology & Management 36: 383–393.