Analysis of the content of germanium, tellurium and thallium in the grounded waste of electronic equipment

The article draws attention to the problem of the presence in waste electrical, electronic equipment (WEEE) of selected metals from the group of critical metals (germanium), strategic metals (tellurium) and highly toxic elements (thallium). Due to low content of these metals in e-waste, they are usually ignored during e-waste analysis, therefore they belong to the least-known metals in the literature. Their presence in WEEE can cause them to be concentrated in the environment during improperly e-waste processing. In the article the important applications of Ge, Te, Tl in electronic equipment, quantities identification of these metals in a variety of electronic equipment elements, paying special attention to the ability to accumulate/concentrate Ge, Te, Tl in individual fractions after the e-waste shredding and grinding process are presented. This approach is aimed at determining the possibility of these metals getting into the environment, during the storage and processing of e-waste (especially in the unit processes of disassembly, separation, shredding), in the case of uncontrolled electronic waste handling and disposal. The research project received funding from the National Science Centre of Poland on the basis of the decision number UMO-2018/29/B/ST10/01522.