Separation and recovery of materials from scrap printed circuit boards

Printed circuit boards from waste computers, televisions, and mobile phones were pyrolysed in a fixed bed reactor with the aim of separating and recovering the organic and metallic materials. A selection of printed circuit boards from each of the three waste classes was pyrolysed at 800°C and the pyrolysis products were analysed using GC-FID, GC-TCD, GC-MS, GC-ECD, ICP-MS, and SEM-EDX. The pyrolysis oils contained high concentrations of phenol, 4-(1-methylethyl)phenol, and p-hydroxyphenol, as well as bisphenol A, tetrabromobisphenol A, methyl phenols, and bromophenols. The pyrolysis oils also contained significant concentrations of organo – phosphate compounds and a number of tetrabromobisphenol A pyrolysis products were also identified. The pyrolysis residues were very fragile and the organic, glass fibre, and metallic fractions could easily be separated and the electrical components could easily be removed from the remains of the printed circuit boards. The ash in the residue mainly consisted of copper, calcium, iron, nickel, zinc, and aluminium, as well as lower concentrations of valuable metals such as gallium, bismuth, silver, and gold, silver was present in particularly high concentrations. Many other metals were also identified in the ash by ICP-MS and SEM EDX. The pyrolysis gases mainly consisted of CO2 and CO but all of the C1 – C4 alkanes and alkenes were present, as were some inorganic halogens

Sykepleierens rolle i tilrettelegging for tilknytning mellom premature spedbarn og deres foreldre på nyfødt intensivavdeling.

Bakgrunn: Omtrent 15 millioner spedbarn blir født prematurt årlig på verdensbasis. Dette utgjør den største helsetrusselen blant nyfødte i industrialiserte land. Med stadig bedre behandlingstilbud kan spedbarn som i dag er født etter et 23 ukers svangerskap overleve. Langvarige sykehusinnleggelser hos premature fører derimot til begrenset foreldre-spedbarn interaksjon. Dette kan videre føre til forstyrrelser av barnets utvikling samt vanskeligheter med tilknytningsprosessen mellom spedbarnet og foreldrene. Gjennom oppholdet på nyfødt intensivavdelingen har foreldrene behov for hjelp fra sykepleierne i tilknytningen til deres premature spedbarn. Hensikt: Oppgavens hensikt er å belyse sykepleierens rolle i tilrettelegging for tilknytningen mellom premature og deres foreldre på nyfødt intensivavdeling. Metode: En integrativ litteraturoversikt ble benyttet som metode. Fire kvalitative og to kvantitative studier er analysert etter Fribergs analysemodell. Hovedfunnene er logisk kategorisert og sammen med relevant teori utgjør dette grunnlaget for oppgavens besvarelse. Resultater og hovedkonklusjoner: Foreldrene hadde behov for oppmuntring, støtte og nærvær fra sykepleierne. Det ble avdekket at kunnskap bringer trygghet og at undervisning om foreldrevarhet samt bekreftende kommunikasjon fra sykepleierne styrket tilknytningen. Et gjennomgående funn var at foreldre-spedbarn interaksjoner, fysisk kontakt og kengurumetoden fremmet tilknytningsprosessen mest. For å tilrettelegge disse stundene kan sykepleierne skape rom og bane vei. Deltakelse i daglig omsorg ble for foreldrene en invitasjon inn i foreldrerollen. Sykepleiernes rolle på nyfødt intensivavdeling i tilrettelegging av tilknytning mellom premature spedbarn og deres foreldre er omsorgsbærer og støttespiller, underviser og informant, tilrettelegger av tilknytning og forsvarer av autonomi. Nøkkelord: Foreldre, integrativ litteraturoversikt, litteraturstudie, premature spedbarn, sykepleierens rolle, tilknytning, tilretteleggin

Fast pyrolysis of halogenated plastics recovered from waste computers

The disposal of waste computers is an issue that is gaining increasing interest around the world. In this paper, results from the fast pyrolysis in a fluidized bed reactor of three different waste computer monitor casings composed of mainly acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) copolymer and two different waste computer body casings composed of mostly poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) type polymers are presented. Preliminary characterization of the waste plastics was investigated using coupled thermogravimetric analysis-Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (TGA-FT-IR). The results showed that the plastics decomposed in two stages. For the ABS-containing monitor casings, aromatic and aliphatic material were released in the first and second stages. The PVC-containing computer body casing samples showed a first-stage evolution of HCl and a second stage evolution of aromatic and aliphatic material and further HCl. In addition, each of the five plastics was fast-pyrolyzed in a laboratory-scale fluidized bed reactor at 500 °C. The fluidized bed pyrolysis led to the conversion of most of the plastics to pyrolysis oil, although the two PVC computer body cases produced large quantities of HCl. The pyrolysis oils were characterized by GC-MS and it was found that they were chemically very heterogeneous and contained a wide range of aliphatic, aromatic, halogenated, oxygenated, and nitrogenated compounds

Cocoa and Grape Seed Byproducts as a Source of Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Proanthocyanidins

Phenolic compounds, which are secondary plant metabolites, are considered an integral part of the human diet. Physiological properties of dietary polyphenols have come to the attention in recent years. Especially, proanthocyanidins (ranging from dimers to decamers) have demonstrated potential interactions with biological systems, such as antiviral, antibacterial, molluscicidal, enzyme-inhibiting, antioxidant, and radical-scavenging properties. Agroindustry produces a considerable amount of phenolic-rich sources, and the ability of polyphenolic structures to interacts with other molecules in living organisms confers their beneficial properties. Cocoa wastes and grape seeds and skin byproducts are a source of several phenolic compounds, particularly mono-, oligo-, and polymeric proanthocyanidins. The aim of this work is to compare the phenolic composition of Theobroma cacao and Vitis vinifera grape seed extracts by high pressure liquid chromatography coupled to a quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer and equipped with an electrospray ionization interface (HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS) and its phenolic quantitation in order to evaluate the proanthocyanidin profile. The antioxidant capacity was measured by different methods, including electron transfer and hydrogen atom transfer-based mechanisms, and total phenolic and flavan-3-ol contents were carried out by Folin–Ciocalteu and Vanillin assays. In addition, to assess the anti-inflammatory capacity, the expression of MCP-1 in human umbilical vein endothelial cells was measured.This work was supported by the project AGL2011-29857-C03-02 and BFU2014-52433-C3-2-R (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation), as well as P10-FQM-6563 and P11-CTS-7625 (Andalusian Regional Government Council of Innovation and Science). The author Isabel Borrás Linares acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and the European Social Fund (FSE) for the contract PTQ-13-06429. Authors are also grateful to the Universitat Rovira I Virgili for the Martí I Franquès Grant 2016PMF-POST-02 awarded to Salvador Fernández-Arroyo