Abstract
E-waste is rapidly growing in volume as a result of increasing consumption and reduced life expectancy of electronic products. Energy-intensive and cost-inefficient methods like pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy following chemical and/or physical separation steps are generally implemented for metal recovery from e-waste. As an environmentally sounder option, biohydrometallurgy was developed using microorganisms and their metabolic products to solubilize and recover metals from insoluble matrices like e-waste. Bioleaching applications to e-waste are still at the early stages of development and a techno-economic analysis indicates it is not yet viable. This review assesses peer-reviewed data gathered to establish the Technology Readiness Level of biohydrometallurgy for material recovery from e-waste at a pilot scale allowing the conclusion that bioleaching at the commercial scale currently faces diverse operational challenges that hamper its scale-up and industrial implementation.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Sustainable Management of Electronic Waste |
Editors | Abhishek Kumar, Pramod Singh Rathore, Ashutosh Kumar Dubey, Arun Lal Srivastav, T. Ananth Kumar, Vishal Dutt |
Place of Publication | Hoboken, NJ |
Publisher | Scrivener Publishing |
Chapter | 16 |
Pages | 301-340 |
Number of pages | 40 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781394166923 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781394166176 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 19 Feb 2024 |
Keywords
- E-waste
- biohydrometallurgy
- bioleaching
- metal extraction
- recycling
- technology readiness level