New gold extraction technique will make mobile recycling more efficient
Wednesday, September 7, 2016 - 11:56:04
More people are coming to realise that mobile phones are packed with precious metals and other substances which can be reused rather than sent to landfill. But the problem with current recycling techniques is that they are both costly and ineffective, often leading to waste and posing environmental issues in their own right.
The good news is that researchers at the University of Edinburgh have recently announced the creation of a new system which makes it possible to easily recover gold from old phones, in a manner that is much more efficient than any current process, according to the Daily Mail. And it is thought that this could help to boost the amount of gold recovered from unwanted electronics by 300 tonnes annually.
It is not just smartphones which contain gold, but also a wide range of portable and household devices, from laptop computers to TV sets and beyond. Essentially, anything with a circuit board inside is likely to contain small traces of the metal, which might be lost if it is not properly recycled.
The new process involves the use of a specially formulated combination of chemicals, which can be used to dissolve circuitry in its entirety and allows the gold to be separated from waste materials without the use of any kind of toxic substances, overcoming the downsides of older techniques.
Study leader, Professor Jason Love, said that this discovery was hugely significant and could not only have environmental advantages the world over but would also lead to economic benefits for those who take advantage of it.
Hopefully, it will not be long before major recycling firms embrace this gold recovery technique so that anyone who sells an old phone in the UK can be sure that it will be dealt with appropriately.
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