Environmental Impact Assessment on the Recycling of Waste LCD Panels

The waste liquid crystal display (LCD) panels are both harmful and reusable because of the variety of ingredients contained, for example, the liquid crystal, panel glass, and precious heavy metal. This study assumed one treatment technique which consists of crushing, a hydrothermal process, and acid leaching to realize harmless treatment and resource recycling of waste LCD panels based on the previous experimental results in our lab. The environmental impacts of this treatment technique were evaluated by using two methods of life cycle assessment of ReCiPe 2008 and Eco-indicator 99 (EI’99). ReCiPe assessment results show that the adverse environmental impacts from the treatment process are dominated by the input of electricity which is followed by the use of hydrogen peroxide and kerosene. The treatment process brings positive impacts on the environment in the category of metal resource depletion but results in more pollution in categories of terrestrial acidification, human toxicity, and particulate matter formation. EI’99 analysis reveals that, compared with incineration, the proposed treatment technique of waste LCD panels sharply cut down the negative environmental impacts by 91.5–97.3% under different scenarios.