Methodological approach for the characterization of printed circuit boards from smartphones by micro X-ray fluorescence
Technological development improved human life style, but the fast progress of electronic applications makes devices quickly obsolete, generating waste difficult to treat (Zhou and Qiu, 2010), the so-called Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). The generation of WEEE substantially grows up in the last years, resulting a total WEEE production of about 20-50 million tonnes every year (Bachér and Kaartinen, 2017). Some estimations indicate that within Europe the generation of WEEE is about 12 million tons, that is around 23 kg per person (Bachér et al., 2015).