Elementary analysis of mobile phones for optimizing end-of-life scenarios

Author

Takahashi, K.I. ; Tsuda, M. ; Nakamura, J. ; Otabe, K. ; Tsuruoka, M. ; Matsuno, Y. ; Adachi, Y.

Author_Institution

NTT Energy & Environ. Syst. Labs., NTT Corp., Musashino, Japan

fYear

2009

fDate

18-20 May 2009

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

2

Abstract

The metals contained in various mobile phones were analyzed. More than 20 elements were detected and their net amounts were found to increase year by year. The environmental and economic impacts were assessed based on an elemental analysis. The CO₂ emissions generated by the incineration of plastics were estimated to be almost the same as those avoided by recovering the metals. Gold had the biggest economic impact. However, the amount of gold is decreasing and an eco-design for improved recycling is an urgent problem.

Keywords

air pollution; design for environment; incineration; metals; mobile handsets; recycling; CO₂ emissions; eco-design; economic impacts; elemental analysis; end-of-life scenarios; environmental impacts; metal content; mobile phones; plastics incineration; recycling; Conducting materials; Crystalline materials; Environmental economics; Gold; Incineration; Liquid crystal displays; Mobile handsets; Plastics; Power generation economics; Recycling; Chemical analysis; LCA; Mobile phone; Recycle;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Sustainable Systems and Technology, 2009. ISSST '09. IEEE International Symposium on

Conference_Location

Phoenix, AZ

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-4324-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ISSST.2009.5156682

Filename

5156682