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

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.