E-Waste and Bio-Hydrometallurgical Recovery of Gold: A Review
Authors/Creators
- 1. Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, India
Description
In India, current recycling and processing of e-waste is managed almost entirely by the informal sector or the unskilled labour (95%). The crude recycling activities cause irreversible health and environmental hazards and the loss of valuable materials due to the poor recovery of base and precious metals. Recycling done by the unskilled labour has been disclosed and alternative recycling strategies which are environment friendly and which aims at higher recovery of materials is being sought. Bio-hydrometallurgy processing technology makes use of microorganisms, bacteria and archea as self-generating biocatalysts to facilitate the dissolution of minerals and manipulation of solution chemistry to achieve recovery or treatment of dissolved metals and elements. The existing methods practiced for recycling of e-waste in India are by pyro-metallurgical and hydrometallurgical routes. Bio-hydrometallurgy offers many advantages over conventional methods, including its relative simplicity, less exacting operational requirements, low energy input, reduced need for skilled labour, and environmental friendliness.