Assessment of the recycling potential of valuable metals by mapping the elemental composition in discarded light-emitting diodes (LEDs)

Electronic waste (e-waste) is the world's fastest-growing type of waste, with lighting accounting for 9% of the total. Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are composed of the most concentrated critical elements (Ag and Au) and recovery of these metals could generate economic benefits and reduce the burdens of environmental pollution; nevertheless, the absence of information about their composition currently presents a challenge in recycling these metals with minimal prospects for recovery. This study assessed the distribution and variation of elemental concentrations of 16 different elements in three generations of LEDs (12 different LED units): sub-mounted -device (SMD #10), chip-on-board (COB #1), and positive-intrinsic-negative (PIN #1). The SMD LEDs con-tained a considerable amount of Au with a median average concentration of 1204 mg/kg (ranging from 323 -3687 mg/kg), which was similar to that of COB (1550 mg/kg), but higher than that of PIN LED (175 mg/kg). Based on the total threshold limiting concentration (TTLC), the Cu levels (605,823 mg/kg) in the SMD package exceeded the regulatory limits (2500 mg/kg). Concentrations of the hazardous elements Cr (29 mg/kg), Pb (12 mg/kg), Cd (0.1 mg/kg), and As (1 mg/kg) in the LED packages were within the regulatory limits. To recycle precious metals and other technological metals, a well-organized and dedicated optimized assessment of the value of metals is required especially in accordance with the concept of criticality and recyclability. Two factors, i.e., a high resource index (RI) and technology index (TI), suggest the importance of waste to the economy and has a significant potential for recycling with less processing burdens. Present findings indicated that the COB and a few of the studied SMD LEDs (3020, 4014, 5630, and 7020), exhibit high criticality and recyclability. For the RI and TI index, the contribution of metals such as Cu, Fe, Al, and Au were dominant. These findings can serve as a reference for the development of a viable approach for the recycling and recovery of targeted metals from LED e -waste.