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An exploratory study on occupational exposure to airborne engineered nanomaterials during the recycling operations of electronic devices

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Abstract

The use of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) to improve electronics and computer manufacturing has allowed significant developments in their size and properties. Occupational exposure to ENMs can also occur during the electronic devices recycling (e-cycling) due to the manual and/or destructive disassembly process. This study aimed to characterize the potential exposure of workers to ENMs (10–400 nm) during the demanufacturing process of electronic devices in an e-waste recycling plant. An e-cycling facility with workers performing manual demanufacturing of electronic devices was the focal point of this research. This study used a direct reading instrument (DRI) and traditional air filter samples. Air samples were collected during a work shift using the direct reading TSI NanoScan SMPS and filter-based samples during the normal operation. For the filter-based samples, 16 air samples were collected and analyzed. Real-time NanoScan measurements indicated the plastic shredding activities contributed to the airborne nanoparticles’ generation with a peak of 32,000 particles/cm3. Four heavy metals (Al, Fe, Pb, and Zn) were also detected at low concentrations. Nanoparticle exposures were identified during the operation of a plastic shredder, paper baler and the operation of an electric forklift. Results from the ICPMS analysis, and SEM data from the computer demanufacturing tasks support the hypothesis that the demanufacturing process during e-cycling releases airborne particles at the nanosize.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the support from Richard Cavalere from TSI Incorporated who provided the NanoScan for conducting the data collection; and to the facility and operators participating in this study.

Funding

This research was funded by the NIOSH Johns Hopkins Education and Research Training Center Pilot Project Research Training Award T42OH008428.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Safety Sciences, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 1010 Oakland Avenue, PA, 15705, Indiana, USA

    Cynthia Pugh, Tracey Cekada, Jan Wachter & Luz S. Marin

Authors
  1. Cynthia Pugh
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  2. Tracey Cekada
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  3. Jan Wachter
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  4. Luz S. Marin
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Contributions

CP designed the study and collected data. All authors provided feedback on the study design and data analysis. CP and LM drafted the manuscript. All authors provided critical review of the manuscript and have given approval to the final version.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luz S. Marin.

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Ethics approval

All the methods and protocols involving human subjects in this study were approved by the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Institutional Review Board (IRB) Log No. 19-256.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Appendices

Appendix 1

Air sampling locations for filter-based samples collected on day one. A = area sample; B = blank; ICPMS = inductively coupled mass spectrometry; SEM = scanning electron microscopy

figure a

Appendix 2

Air sampling locations for filter-based samples collected on day one. A = area sample; B = blank; ICPMS = inductively coupled mass spectrometry; SEM = scanning electron microscopy

figure b

Appendix 3

Table

Table 4 Air sampling matrix for all filter-based samples
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Pugh, C., Cekada, T., Wachter, J. et al. An exploratory study on occupational exposure to airborne engineered nanomaterials during the recycling operations of electronic devices. J Nanopart Res 24, 36 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-022-05423-5

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