Risks in the physical recovery system of waste refrigerator cabinets and the controlling measure

Environmental information in physical recovery system of waste refrigerator cabinets was provided in this paper. The system included closed shearing, activated carbon adsorption (ACA), air current separation, magnetic separation, and eddy current separation. Exposures of CFC-11, heavy metals, and noise emitted from the system were assessed. Abundant CFC-11 (>510 mg/m³) was detected in crusher cavity. However, due to the employment of ACA, little CFC-11 (<9.5 mg/m³) could be detected out the recovery system. Heavy metals were detected in the air of workshop (TSP: Cu ≤ 4.91 μg/m³, Pb ≤ 3.17 μg/m³, PM10: Cu ≤ 2.1 μg/m³, Pb ≤ 1.3 μg/m³). Assessment results indicated the concentrations of heavy metals in air were safe for workers. Copper (25.8 mg/kg) and lead (19.5 mg/kg) were found in ground dust of the workshop and the concentrations were safe for soils. Noise level (98.2 dB(A)) of crushing process could cause disease and hearing impairment to workers. For controlling noise, acoustic hood was designed to reduce the noise level to 69.7 dB(A).The above information was of assistance to the industrialization of physical process for recovering waste refrigerator cabinets on environmental protection. Meanwhile, it contributed to the knowledge of environmental information of physical technology for recovering e-waste.