It seems that alchemy never died, only reinvented himself. Transforming common gold is something that relives from the hand of a Swiss investigation. But this time, without witchcraft, without lead or mercury, and with an unexpected turn: the key is in electronic waste and milk serum.
Eth Zurich researchers have developed a revolutionary method to recover electronic waste gold using the food industry by -product.
This procedure, led by Professor Raffaele Mezzenga, is to transform serum proteins into nanofibras that act as highly selective sponges. By immersing them in a solution with ionized metals from computers -based plates, sponges preferently catch lgold ions. Subsequently, by heatgold becomes flakes that can melt into pepitas.
The process is 50 times cheaper than the value of recovered gold, and also uses residual materials, which makes it highly sustainable and economically viable.
What if the solution to an environmental crisis and at the same time a multi -million dollar economic opportunity was in our abandoned electronics -shaped drawers?
The result is a technology that not only promises to transform the way in which we recycle electronic devices, but could also change the circular economy as we know it.
Gold hidden in our digital waste
Electronic waste has become a global problem. Every year more than 50 million tons are generated worldwideand that figure grows to the rhythm of our dependence on electronic devices. In that sea of circuits, batteries and plastics there is a resource that shines with its own light: gold.
A single mobile phone can contain up to 0.034 grams of this precious metal. It may seem little, but if we multiply by millions of obsolete devices, the amount becomes impressive. And yet, most of that gold ends up in landfills or inefficient and polluting recycling processes.
This is where Eth Zurich’s investigation comes into play. In the face of traditional industrial methods that require aggressive chemicals such as cyanide or nitric acid, the new proposed approach uses a protein sponge made from milk serum, a substance that is normally discarded after the cheese manufacturing process.
The process: from milk to precious metal
The team led by Mezzenga has transformed the serum into an extraction tool. The procedure begins to denaturalize serum proteins under acid and high temperature conditions, which makes them nanofibers. These are grouped forming a kind of gel thatonce dry, it becomes a sponge.
When this sponge is introduced in a solution containing metal ions from dissolved motherboards, gold ions adhere to protein fibers. The key is in the selectivity: Although other metals such as copper or nickel also adhere, gold does so preferentially and more stable.
Once the gold is absorbed, the sponge is heated, which causes the ions to be reduced to metal sheets. These merge into an oven and become pepitas. Of 20 base plates, the team got a nugget 450 milligrams of 22 carat gold. A purity that amazes, taking into account the origin of the material.
Sustainability and Economic Viability: Double Victoria
The most powerful aspect of this technology is its double positive impact: environmental and economic. On the one hand, two types of waste are used – electronic and food – and on the other, a valuable resource is obtained efficiently and cleanly.
According to Mezzenga’s calculations, The total cost of the process – including materials and energy – is 50 times lower than the value of recovered gold. This turns the method into a large -scale viable alternative, with potential to be adopted by both recycling and governments that seek cleaner ways to handle electronic waste.
In addition, the use of dairy serum as a raw material opens the door to new applications. The team is investigating whether other residual proteins of the food industry could have the same behavior, which would further expand the scope of the process.
Although the initial focus is in electronic waste, researchers point to other industries where gold is used in technical processes. Microchips manufacturingindustrial gold or even medical processes could benefit from this method of selective extraction.
This raises an interesting scenario: Factories that produce gold -rich waste could install in situ systems to recover metal and reintegrate it into its processes, thus closing the production cycle and reducing costs.
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