The descriptions presented below are based on visual inspection of the samples. Their waste category origin is listed in Table 8. Dust fractions in the samples are considered as <0.01 mm.
VF, Comb and WEEE sample categories describe vehicle fluff, combustibles and waste of electric and electronical equipment waste fractions, respectably.
Table 8: Overview of sample material, its origin and category.
Sample Reference Waste origin Waste category Composition Fraction VF 1 Landfill A Noncombustible fluff
fraction, 2-8mm
Vehicle fluff Relatively homogeneous
Grains and dust VF 2 WEEE /
Vehicle B
Fluff from car, house -hold, little metal
Vehicle fluff Very
heterogeneous
Fluffy VF 3 WEEE /
Vehicle A
Fluff fraction for burning
Vehicle fluff Very
heterogeneous
Fluffy VF 4 WEEE /
Vehicle E
Coarse fraction of fluff for burning
Vehicle fluff Extremely heterogeneous
Fluff and grains Comb 1 Incineration /
sorting A
Fluff, thin matter Combustibles Relatively heterogeneous
Dust and particles Comb 2 Incineration /
sorting A
Fluff coarse matter Combustibles Very
heterogeneous
Fluffy WEEE 1 WEEE /
Vehicle D
Plastic granulate Plastic Very
homogeneous
Particles / even sizes WEEE 2 WEEE /
Vehicle D
Plastic granulate with saw dust
Plastic Relatively homogeneous
Particles / even sizes WEEE 3 WEEE /
Vehicle D
Plastic granulate with saw dust
Plastic Relatively homogeneous
Particles / even sizes WEEE 4 WEEE /
Vehicle B
Fluff from plastic, EE waste
EE waste Rather
heterogeneous
A bit of everything WEEE 5 WEEE /
Vehicle B
Non BFR plastic, from EE waste
EE waste Rather
heterogeneous
A bit of everything WEEE 6 WEEE /
Vehicle B
BFR plastic from EE waste
EE waste Rather
heterogeneous
A bit of everything
40
VF 1: Relatively homogenous sample consisting of mainly organic matter like wood splinters 0.1 – 40 mm, >80 % of total material.
Plastic bits are present 0.1 – 15 mm in size, roughly 5 % of the total. Glass shards 0.1 – 2 mm in size, <1 % of total. Stones 0.1 – 10 mm in size, 1 – 2 % of total. Pieces of metal, like copper flakes and metal string/wire, 1 – 10 mm in length, <1 % of the total. The dust
fraction is around 10 % of the total sample volume (Figure 10A).
VF 2: Very heterogeneous sample with mostly fluffs and plastic. Fluff and organics 10 – 100 mm in size dominates at ~70 % of the sample volume. Bits of plastics 10 – 150 mm in size, 1 – 10 % of total. One piece of aluminum >100 mm, 5 mm thick is present.
Bits of thick cables with radii 1 – 3 mm, 1 – 5
% of the total. Fractions of textiles, polystyrene and polymers all 10 – 100 mm in
size combines into 1 – 5 % of the total sample volume. Representative subsamples for analytics was difficult, but considered obtained (Figure 10B).
VF 3: Very heterogeneous sample with large pieces of plastic and fluff. Fibrous fluff and organics 0 – 40 mm in size, 50 – 70 % of the total sample. Bits of plastics 0 – 20 mm in size, 1 – 5 % of the total. Plastic foils 20 – 100 mm in size, 10 – 20 % of the total. Bits of metal shavings and wires 10 – 50 mm in size, 1 – 5 % of the total. Fractions of textile, polystyrene and polymers 1 – 3 cm in size
combines into 1 – 5 % of the total sample volume. Representative subsamples for analytics was difficult, but considered obtained (Figure 10C).
A
1 cm
B
1 cm
C
1 cm
41 VF 4: Extremely heterogeneous sample
consisting of a few large pieces. Shredded bicycle tire 200 – 300 mm in size, piece of a broom/brush 100 – 150 mm, hard plastics 100 – 200 mm, rubber sheets and bits 20 – 150 mm and bits of insulated wire 50 – 200 mm in length and radius ~2 mm. The sample has almost no visible dust fraction. Fragments of each material were extracted to make
subsamples representative of the different components (Figure 10D).
Comb 1: Relatively heterogeneous sample consisting of soil and dirt, >80 %. Stones 0.1 – 10 mm in size, 5 – 10 % of the total. Thin plastic sheets 10 – 100 mm in size are present 1 – 5 %. Single or agglutinated pieces of polystyrene 5 – 20 mm in size are present in the sample, 5 – 10 % of the total. Hard plastics 1 – 50 mm in size, 1 – 5 % of the total. Wood bits/splinters 10 – 30 mm in size, 1 – 5 % of
the total. Rubber pieces 10 – 40 mm in size, 1 – 5 % of the total. The dust fraction accounts for about 30 % of the total sample volume (Figure 10E).
Comb 2: Very heterogeneous sample dominated by a few large objects. Paper 10 – 20 mm in size account for 30 – 40 % of the total. Plastic foils and bits 10 – 50 mm and 10 – 200 mm in size respectively, 30 – 40 % of the total. The remaining 20 – 35 % consist of wood grains, polystyrene, and shredded rope 10 – 150 mm in size. Combined fraction of dust and particles up to 10 mm amounts to <5
% of the total sample volume. Fragments of large pieces were extracted to produce representative subsamples (Figure 10F).
D
1 cm
E
1 cm
F
1 cm
42
WEEE 1: Very homogenous sample, mainly consisting of plastic granulates (blue, black, white red, green, pink, purple) 1 – 4 mm in size, <95 % of the total material. Copper flakes <4 mm in size, 1 – 2 % of total. Small bits of aluminum/steel and metallic threads 1 – 2 mm in size is present, <1 % of the total.
The dust fraction is around 1 – 2 % of the total sample volume (Figure 10G).
WEEE 2: Relatively homogenous sample with high content of fluffy materials. Roughly half of the sample consist of sawdust 1 – 60 mm in size and hairlike fibers, possibly of wood or cardboard. The remaining half is mostly plastic 0.1 – 6 mm in size. Copper flakes <3 mm in size are present in the sample
<1 % of the total. The dust fraction is around 20 – 30 % of the total sample volume (Figure 10H).
WEEE 3: Relatively homogenous sample of plastic mixed with sawdust. Around 5 % of the material is sawdust 1 – 5 mm in size. The rest is mostly plastic granulates in all colors, 0.1 – 6 mm in size. Some copper flakes are present in the sample, 0.1 – 2 mm in size, <1
% of the total. Some hairlike fluff is also present, 5 – 15 mm in size and around 5 % of the total material. The dust fraction comprises around 30 % of total sample volume (Figure 10I).
I G
1 cm
H
1 cm
1 cm
43 WEEE 4: Rather heterogeneous sample,
dominated by fluff and plastic foils. Particle sizes are represented evenly between the dust fraction up to 60 mm. Flakes of plastic foil and metallic foil 0 – 60 mm in size, 60 – 70
% of the total sample. Plastic foam 0 – 60 mm in size, 30 – 40 % of the sample. Bits of coated copper wire with radii <1 mm are present in the sample, ~1 – 5 % of the total sample volume (Figure 10J).
WEEE 5: Rather heterogeneous sample containing mostly plastics, accounting >90 % of the total volume. Of the plastic pieces; the 1 – 30 mm fraction amounts to ~80 % of the plastics, with the remaining fraction in the range of 30 – 100 mm pieces. Some visible metals are present, mainly coated and shielded copper wires, comprising around 1 – 2 % of the total. Wood pieces 1 – 40 mm in
size amounts to ~1 – 2 % of total. Dust fraction is <0.1 % of the total sample, considered adhered to the bulk of the sample surface due to the only visible dust being the fraction transferred to the nitrile gloves after contact (Figure 10K).
WEEE 6: Rather heterogeneous sample containing mostly plastics. Hard plastics 5 – 40 mm in size amounts to >90 % of total sample. 5 – 10 % of plastics are remains of circuit boards, some with components attached. Copper wires 5 – 20 mm in length and radii 0.5 – 2 mm, together with copper flakes/sheets 1 – 5 mm in size comprises 1 – 5 % of the total. Pieces of metal like aluminum, nickel, brass and steel ~1 – 3 mm in size are present at <1 % of total sample
K
L
Figure 10 A-L: Samples of the waste materials before any processing. 1 cm scale provided with 10% uncertainty.
1 cm
J
1 cm
1 cm
44
volume. Dust fraction is <0.1 % for the same reason mentioned in sample WEEE 5 (Figure 10L).