Chemical Characterization of an ARDUINO® Board and Its Surface Mount Devices for the Evaluation of Their Intrinsic Economic Value

Abstract

The remarkable technological development observed in recent decades has led to an exponential increase in the production of electrical and electronic devices. Regardless of their field of application or the type of device, electronic boards are a common feature of all these devices. For this reason, electronic boards represent a constant in electrical and electronic equipment waste. Knowing their composition and intrinsic economic value is essential for identifying sustainable disposal and valorization processes. In the literature, several articles report typical compositions of electronic boards, but it is rare to find a component-by-component characterization. This procedure is important to determine the components that need to be removed to increase the recovery yields of materials or to identify components with high concentrations of hazardous substances. For this reason, in this scientific article, we propose to examine the chemical composition of all the components of the Arduino® electronic board using advanced chemical analysis techniques. Arduino is a popular electronic board mainly used to prototype electronic projects rapidly. The chemical composition of the Arduino board has yet to be entirely determined to date. The decision to use the Arduino board is due to the fact that this board is widespread globally and could represent a reference study.