Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) technology has evolved and developed over the past two
decades to replace Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display technology as the market leader.
This is evident, with predicted global market figures for liquid crystal displays
surpassing $73 billion in 20101. In turn this will result in the increasing levels of used
LCDs entering into the disposal / recycling stream. As under the European WEEE
Directive2, released in January 2003, LCD waste must achieve a rate of recovery of
75% by an average weight per appliance. Also a direct requirement exists of the
complete removal of the Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps (CCFL) within the LCD
televisions. These tubes provide the backlighting to the screen. Their removal is a
prerequisite as by their design they contain mercury for their successful operation.
Mercury is classified as a hazardous material and therefore must be isolated from the
LCD waste components during disassembly.
While the recycling methods for CRTs are well established, those of LCDs are as yet in
their infancy. This project aims to address the challenges facing EoL (End of Life)
treatment of LCD units by analysing LCD build types, structures and component
material to establish traits which may make EoL treatment less of a challenge.
Analysing this data will lay the foundation to developing a balanced recovery system
meeting the needs of economic viability and environmental conservation in future work.
This project culminated in the design, development, and successful testing of an
automated method for the safe removal of the hazardous materials found within LCDs.
It?s fully automated nature allows a recovery throughput of on average 36 LCDs per
hour. This is seen to be approximately ten times higher than manual disassembly
methods. However, it is envisenged that through a series of further design reviews the
automated LCD machine when constructed to an industrial specification can exceed a
through put of 80 LCDs per hour. The obvious economic advantage along with the
intrinsic safety of an automated process is seen to be a highly desirable technology.

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Suggested Citation Information

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An example of this citation in proper usage:

O'Donoghue, L.   "State of the Art Recycling Technology for LCDs". Associated datasets and digitial information objects connected to this resource are available at: Secure Archive For Environmental Research Data (SAFER) managed by Environmental Protection Agency Ireland https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/resource?id=bdb452e3-959d-11e3-b233-005056ae0019 (Last Accessed: 2025-01-24)

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SAFER-Data Display URL	https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/iso19115/display?isoID=3047
Resource Keywords	LCD Recycling WEEE Waste
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Code	2008-WRM-MS-5-S1
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Theme	Waste and Resource Management
Resource Availability:	Public-Open
Limitations on the use of this Resource	NONE
Number of Attached Files (Publicly and Openly Available for Download):	1
Project Start Date	Tuesday 5th February 2008 (05-02-2008)
Earliest Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Monday 5th January 2009 (05-01-2009)
Most Recent Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Monday 9th May 2011 (09-05-2011)
Published on SAFER	Friday 14th February 2014 (14-02-2014)
Date of Last Edit	Friday 1st August 2014 at 12:13:22 (01-08-2014)
Datasets or Files Updated On	Friday 14th February 2014 at 17:24:04 (14-02-2014)

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Description of Geographical Characteristics of This Project or Dataset
Ireland

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