VATIS UPDATE Article

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, have developed a new method for recovering gold from old gadgets such as mobile phones, TV’s and computers, which not only doesn’t require the use of toxic chemicals, such as cyanide, but it is also said to be more effective than current techniques. According to the researchers, their extraction method could help recover about 300 tonnes of the precious metal used in electronics each year.

They estimate that electrical waste contains as much as 7% of all the world’s gold as the precious metal is a key component of the printed circuit boards found inside most modern devices. The team’s proposed technique involves submerging printed circuit boards in a mild acid to dissolve the metal parts, before adding an oily liquid containing the team’s chemical compound. The solution then helps extract gold selectively from the complex mixture of other metals.

The findings could aid the development of methods for large-scale recovery of gold and other precious metals from waste electronics, the team said. “We are very excited about this discovery. We have shown that our fundamental chemical studies on the recovery of valuable metals from electronic waste could have potential economic and societal benefits,” said lead researcher Jason Love.