Flash Joule process recovers precious metals from e-waste
A process originally designed to produce graphene from waste can now retrieve metals including gold and silver from electronic waste, researchers claim.
Developed at Rice University in Houston, Texas, flash Joule heating was initially developed to produce graphene from carbon sources including waste food and plastic but has since been adapted to recover rhodium, palladium, gold and silver for reuse.
A report in Nature Communications by the Rice lab of chemist James Tour shows that highly toxic heavy metals including chromium, arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead are removed from the flashed materials, leaving a by-product with minimal metal content.
Flash graphene process turns ‘trash into treasure’
Instantly heating the waste to 3,400 Kelvin (5,660 degrees Fahrenheit) with a jolt of electricity vaporises the precious metals, and the gases are vented away for separation, storage or disposal. Tour said that with more than 40 million tons of e-waste produced globally every year, there is plenty of potential for “urban mining.”
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