Scientists extract gold from electronic waste using a cheese byproduct - Interesting Engineering

Scientists extract gold from electronic waste using a cheese byproduct - Interesting Engineering
Scientists extract gold from electronic waste using a cheese byproductSay cheese, get gold. Sejal Sharma Published: Mar 01, 2024 09:37 AM ESTinnovationCheese byproduct transforms e-waste into gold.ETH ZurichOur daily news digest will keep you up to date with engineering, science and technology news, Monday to Saturday.By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Policies You may unsubscribe at any time. Many electronic devices, such as smartphones, computers, and televisions, contain small amounts of gold in components like connectors, circuit boards, and integrated circuits, but they are usually considered electronic waste. When these devices have run their course, we dispose of them, and the gold attached to these electronic devices goes with them. While they are recycled and the valuable gold is recovered, the methods used are energy-intensive and often require highly toxic chemicals. See Also Related How Much Gold Is in Your Computer and How Efficient It Is to Reclaim It ‘Tasty’ zero-dairy cheese employs cutting-edge technology that only needs oxygen and water Scientists devise new method to turn blue cheese green, red, pink So, a team led by Professor Mezzenga from ETH found a highly efficient, affordable, and notably sustainable solution: they used a byproduct of the cheesemaking process to extract gold from electronic waste. How did they go from cheese to gold? Whey protein is the liquid that remains after milk has been curdled and strained during cheese production. It contains proteins, lactose, vitamins, and minerals. The team used whey proteins to make a sponge to pull gold from old computer motherboards dissolved in acid. The sponge works better by sticking to gold ions than other metals because of the proteins’ special structure. After soaking up the gold, it’s turned into small pieces and melted to make a nugget. Surprisingly, from only 20 motherboards, the team got a nugget weighing 450 milligrams and 91 percent pure gold. The team thinks that their process could be used on a larger scale. “The fact I love the most is that we’re using a food industry byproduct to obtain gold from electronic waste,” said Mezzenga. “You can’t get much more sustainable than that!” Their approach helps recycle electronic and food waste and creates value from these waste materials in line with circular economy principles. Recycling e-waste is becoming increasingly important not only for environmental reasons but also to recover valuable materials. It’s a win-win situation where waste is reduced and valuable resources are recovered sustainably. Through processes such as mechanical shredding, chemical leaching, and smelting, recyclers can extract and refine the gold and other precious metals from e-waste for reuse, reducing the need for mining new resources and minimizing environmental impact. The study was published in the journal Advanced Materials. Study abstract: Demand for gold recovery from e-waste grows steadily due to its pervasive use in the most diverse technical applications. Current methods of gold recovery are resource-intensive, necessitating the development of more efficient extraction materials. This study explores protein amyloid nanofibrils (AF) derived from whey, a dairy industry side-stream, as a novel adsorbent for gold recovery from e-waste. To do so, AF aerogels are prepared and assessed against gold adsorption capacity and selectivity over other metals present in waste electrical and electronic equipment (e-waste). The results demonstrate that AF aerogel has a remarkable gold adsorption capacity (166.7 mg g−1) and selectivity, making it efficient and an adsorbent for gold recovery. Moreover, AF aerogels are efficient templates to convert gold ions into single crystalline flakes due to Au growth along the (111) plane. When used as templates to recover gold from e-waste solutions obtained by dissolving computer motherboards in suitable solvents, the process yields high-purity gold nuggets, constituted by ≈90.8 wt% gold (21–22 carats), with trace amounts of other metals. Life cycle assessment and techno–economic analysis of the process finally consolidate the potential of protein nanofibril aerogels from food side-streams as an environmentally friendly and economically viable approach for gold recovery from e-waste. 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