Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) is the most commonly used in
television, computer monitors, and other common display panels today. It is
very efficient due to its many advantages of light quality, small volume, and
low power consumption, but does carry a life span of only 3-8 years. Nowadays
everyone owns at least one television in their homes, and after a handful of
years we are sitting with a very large quantity of LCD panels ready to be
disposed of or due for treatment. In addition to this, LCD panels mainly
contain inorganic materials (glass substrate) and organic materials (polarizing
film and liquid crystal). The organic materials should always be recycled first
due to the contents disadvantage to of the indium recycling process. This study
was done to find a the most efficient and environmentally friendly way possible
to obtain acetic acid from the was panels by using a sub/supercritical water
treatment. The study showed a high percentage of organic materials were being
removed presenting the current technology to be very efficient. A good
percentage of acetic acid was also obtained, which provides important fossil
energy based chemical product. The study also resulted the supercritical water
was acting as an ideal solvent, a requisite reactant as well as an efficient
acid-base catalyst, which is quiet significant according to the “Principle of
Green Chemistry.” In conclusion, this study showed the organic matters in LCD
panels to be recycled without any environmental pollution, and it provided for
new opportunities to alternate fossil-based chemical products for sustainable
development in the matter of converting “waste” into “fossil-based chemicals.”
R.Wang, Y. Chen, and Z. Xu. 2015. Recycling Acetic Acid Polarizing Film of Waste Liquid Crystal Display Panels by Sub/Supercritical Water Treatments. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology. 49: 5999-6008.
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