Kiwi innovation uses microbes to extract precious metals from e-waste

A bio-refinery that extracts precious metals from e-waste could put an end to our unwanted electronics being shipped offshore.

Uranus (electronics) sextile Hades (waste (old electronics, e-waste)) quincunx Logos (clarity of personal priorities (the company hoped the technology could be rolled out in different countries to enable low-cost, local processing of electronic waste)). Mercury (commerce (world-first process now being tested at a commercial scale)) sextile Mars (initiative, enterprise) trine Altjira (visionary, proactive and energetic, strong sense of purpose (it was increasingly important countries were able to deal with the waste they produced).

Inside a small Auckland industrial building, a fine dust made of ground up e-waste is dissolved in a solution to make food for precious metal hungry microorganisms.

The process, a combination of chemistry and biology, known as biometallurgy has been developed by start up Mint Innovation to extract precious metals including gold, palladium and copper from printed circuit boards salvaged out of old electronics.

The world-first process is now being tested at a commercial scale, using e-waste gathered from around the country.

If deemed commercially viable, it could put an end to our unwanted electronics being shipped offshore.

Mint Innovation commercial lead Thomas Hansen said printed circuit boards from old computers and screens were chipped up into a fine dust, dissolved in solution, then microbes were used to extract the metals.

Previously that e-waste, which is considered hazardous, had to be shipped one of a handful of smelters in the northern hemisphere where it was melted down into an alloy in an energy intensive process.

Hansen said the science was first proved in 2017 and Mint had since secured funding to commission a pilot bio-refinery plant to test its commercial viability.

The plant, which is similar to a micro-brewery, is small, uses little heat and produces almost no gases. From start to finish, the process of extracting metal takes about 24 hours.

The company hoped the technology could be rolled out in different countries to enable low-cost, local processing of electronic waste.

Hansen said it was "increasingly important" countries were able to deal with the waste they produced and didn't export it.

"We are hoping that not only are we more efficient from an economic and environmental standpoint, but also that we allow countries to take responsibility for their own waste."

 According to the Ministry for the Environment, Kiwis create an average of 19 kilograms of e-waste a year, with that figure expected to rise to 26.9kg per person by 2030.

It is estimated about 80,000 tonnes of e-waste is disposed annually and less than 2 per cent is recycled.

Mint is supplied with e-waste from Wellington-based Remarkit Solutions, a company that manages the secure disposal of commercial IT equipment.

Managing director Tim Findlay said for the last few years it had acted as an aggregator for Mint, collecting, tracking, shredding printed circuit boards before sending them on for processing.

That process was soft on the environment, compared to the traditional method of using a smelter on the other side of the world to extract precious metals.

Findlay said it was exciting to see progress in the industry using "good, solid Kiwi ingenuity that was developed in New Zealand".

Zero Waste New Zealand director Jo Knight said she was supportive of anything that helped to recycle e-waste and could be done in New Zealand.

While the new technology could be a game-changer, she said the cost of disassembling electronics to extract the printed circuit boards and the cost of shredding could impact its commercial viability.

Some of the e-waste ready to be processed by Mint has come from the Nelson Environment Centre, which recently collected 368 kilograms of printed circuit boards in six months.

Manager Anton Drazevic said it aimed to first refurbish old electronics for reuse, otherwise they were broken down for recycling.

Nelson's e-waste was previously sent to Japan, but that came at a cost to the consumer. At around $15 for each laptop dropped off at the centre, it covered refurbishment or disassembly and shipping.

Drazevic was "super excited" about Mint Innovation's ability to process e-waste in New Zealand.

Last August, the Government released a consultation document for priority products for product stewardship schemes to ensure the costs of waste management were paid by producers and consumers, not communities and the environment.

Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage said at the time that New Zealand's growing waste problem could be slashed dramatically if manufacturers took care of their own rubbish.

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Source: stuff.co.nz