INTRODUCTION

E-waste is being sent, sometimes illegally, to China, Malaysia, India and various African countries, for processing. Many surplus laptops are routed to developing countries as dumping grounds for e-waste (Morgan, 2006). E-waste is routinely exported by developed countries to developing ones, often in violation of international law. Inspections of 18 European seaports in 2005 found as much as 47% of illegal waste, including e-waste, destined for export. In the United Kingdom (UK) alone, at least 23,000 metric tons of undeclared or grey market electronic waste was illegally shipped in 2003 to Asia (China and India) and also to Africa. In the United States of America (USA), it is estimated that 50-80% of the waste collected for recycling is being exported in this way (Forge, 2007).

Mountains of e-wastes are found in major ICTs trading centres in Africa, such as The Computer Village in Lagos, Nigeria. The throw-away mentality and mobile consumption habit of Africans, fueled by weak and/or absence of waste management infrastructure, combine to worsen matters. The local government authorities and companies dump e-waste in open fields near residences or at best incinerate them. In some cases, they are pushed to landfills, thereby posing serious health and environmental hazard to the people and environment, because toxic chemicals in e-waste can leach into the land over time or are released in the atmosphere, impacting nearby communities and the environment. While legislations are used in the developed countries to control this manner of disposal, Africa lacks the capacity for such enforcement, as even some multinationals that contribute to the environmental degradation are more powerful than some African countries (Slade, 2006; Nkamnebe, 2010; Forge, 2007).

Another e-waste processing and handling practice in Africa is tossing e-waste equipment into an open fire in order to melt plastics and to burn away invaluable metals. This is more harmful and wasteful because the process of burning e-wastes releases carcinogens and neurotoxins into the air, contributing to acrid, lingering smog. These noxious fumes include dioxin and furans, which largely consist of incineration residues or waste placed in landfill sites, coming from households, offices and commercial activities and may contain toxic or hazardous materials (Nkamnebe, 2010).

In Nigeria, for instance, bonfire refuse and other e-wastes are discarded into drainage ditches or water ways feeding the ocean or local water supplies. This does not only contaminate water bodies, but also results to blockage of drainages, leading to flooding, destroying lives and properties within flooded areas, causing diseases and economic wastes (Murali, 2009).

According to Murali (2009) and ITA (2009), up to 38 separate chemical substances or elements are incorporated into e-waste items. They can be classified according to their quantities in e-waste and into hazardous and non-hazardous components of e-waste. Accordingly, beryllium oxide (BeO) is not only hazardous, but also found in significant quantity in e-waste items. It is applied as filter in some interface materials (e.g., thermal grease used on heat sinks for computer processing units, CPUs and power transistors), magnetrons, x-ray transparent windows, heat transfer fins in vacuum tubes and glass lasers.

E-waste processing usually first involves recovery of the items from consumers and services providers. The equipment are dismantled into various parts (metal frames, power supplies, circuit boards, plastics), often by hand. This enables recognition of working and repairable parts, including chips, transistors, RAMs, etc. The alternative process obtained in technologically advanced countries is the bulk system practice involving sophisticated shredding, separating, screening and granulating machines. Metal and plastic fractions are obtained, sold to smelters or plastic recyclers. Magnets, eddy currents and trammel screens are employed to separate glass, plastic and ferrous and non-ferrous metals, which can be further separated at a smelter. Leaded glass from Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs) is reused in car batteries, ammunition and lead wheel weights, or sold to foundries as a fluxing agent in processing raw lead ore. Copper, gold, palladium, silver and tin are valuable metals sold to smelters for recycling. Hazardous smoke and gases are captured, contained and treated to mitigate environmental threat (Wikipedia, 2010a).

According to the report issued by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), e-waste from products, such as old computers, printers, mobile phones, pagers, digital photo and music devices, refrigerators, toys and televisions, are set to rise sharply in tandem with growth in sales in countries like China and India and in Latin America over the next 10 years. With the mountains of hazardous waste from electronic products growing exponentially in developing countries, sometimes by as much as 500%, the United Nations on 22 February 2010 called for new recycling technologies and regulations to safeguard both public health and the environment (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2010).

So far, environmental development intervention efforts concentrate on erosion control, petroleum gas flaring and other factors of environmental degradation in Nigeria. There is the need to study the recyclability potentials of BeO for a more environmentally sustainable Africa. Accordingly, this study aimed at extracting BeO from e-waste and converting it to beryllium chloride for use as catalyst in schools and industry.

Beryllium(II) oxide reacts readily with water to form the hydroxide (alkali) (Kneen et al., 1972):

The solution of the alkali picks carbon (IV) oxide from the air to form beryllium (II) trioxocarbonate (IV) (Kneen et al., 1972):

The resulting beryllium (II) trioxocarbonate (IV) is decomposed by heating to carbon (IV) oxide gas and beryllium (II) oxide, BeO, which reacts with dilute hydrochloric acid to form the beryllium chloride, as follows:

Beryllium chloride is white or yellow crystal with melting point of 399°C, boiling point of 482°C and solubility in water of 15.1 g/100 mL (20°C). It is soluble in alcohol, ether and pyridine, but insoluble in benzene, chloroform, acetone and ammonia (Wikipedia, 2010b). According to hazard database (online), it is soluble in benzene, ether, chloroform and carbon disulphide and insoluble in ammonia and acetone. It emits toxic fumes of hydrochloric acid and other chlorinated compounds. The primary routes of potential human exposure to beryllium and certain beryllium compounds are inhalation and dermal contact.