Environmental Risk Assessment of Recycled Products of Spent Coppery Etchant in Jiangsu Province, China

Xiaowei Xu, Jing Hua, Houhu Zhang, Zehua Zhao, Yi Wang, Dapeng Zhang, Jun Zhang and Xiaoxi Chen
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Xiaowei Xu: Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, Nanjing 210042, China
Jing Hua: Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, Nanjing 210042, China
Houhu Zhang: Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, Nanjing 210042, China
Zehua Zhao: Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, Nanjing 210042, China
Yi Wang: Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, Nanjing 210042, China
Dapeng Zhang: Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, Nanjing 210042, China
Jun Zhang: Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, Nanjing 210042, China
Xiaoxi Chen: Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, Nanjing 210042, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 15, 1-9

Abstract: With the vigorous development of the 5G industry, the characteristic hazardous waste, spent coppery etchant, was also produced in large quantities. In recent years, there are many companies that have begun to collect spent coppery etchant for the purpose of producing recycled products, such as copper sulfate, copper oxide, basic copper chloride, and copper powder, which often contain large amounts of heavy metals. However, due to the lack of relevant standards and applicable regulatory measures, some of the recycled products flow to the feed processing industry and even to the food processing industry. This study investigated the pollution status of heavy metals in recycled products of spent coppery etchant and evaluated the impact of recycled products exposure on human health. The results showed that the content of Zn was the highest, which was 21 times higher than the corresponding standard limit. Human health risk assessment indicated that the hazard quotients of As account for 87.5% of the entire HI value, while the average carcinogenic risk values of As for copper sulfate, copper oxide, basic copper chloride, and copper powder are 1.09 × 10 ?5 , 3.19 × 10 ?5 , 1.29 × 10 ?5 , 7.94 × 10 ?6 , respectively. Meanwhile, suggestions on the supervision of recycled products and the concentration limits of heavy metals in recycled products were put forward.

Keywords: recycled product; spent coppery etchant; environmental risk assessment; heavy metals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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