Bioleaching of Printed Circuit Board Waste to Obtain Metallic Nanoparticles

Éllen F. Rodrigues (), Beatriz Cesa Rovaris, Alexsandra Valerio, Débora de Oliveira and Dachamir Hotza
Additional contact information
Éllen F. Rodrigues: Biotechnology Unit, University of Ribeirão Preto—UNAERP, Ribeirão Preto 14096-900, SP, Brazil
Beatriz Cesa Rovaris: Department of Chemical and Food Engineering—QA, Federal University of Santa Catarina—UFSC, Florianópolis 88040-900, SC, Brazil
Alexsandra Valerio: Department of Chemical and Food Engineering—QA, Federal University of Santa Catarina—UFSC, Florianópolis 88040-900, SC, Brazil
Débora de Oliveira: Department of Chemical and Food Engineering—QA, Federal University of Santa Catarina—UFSC, Florianópolis 88040-900, SC, Brazil
Dachamir Hotza: Department of Chemical and Food Engineering—QA, Federal University of Santa Catarina—UFSC, Florianópolis 88040-900, SC, Brazil

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 22, 1-16

Abstract: In this work, a biological recovery of metals (copper and gold) from computer printed circuit board (PCB) waste was carried out by bioleaching using Aspergillus niger . Three bioleaching methods comprising one or two steps or using spent medium were tested in an incubator shaker at 30 °C and 160 rpm with different PCB waste concentrations (2.5 to 10 g/L). Glucose was used as the carbon source. The best condition evaluated was carried out in a stirred tank reactor. The FTIR spectrum confirmed the presence of oxalic, citric, and gluconic acids. A. niger showed an efficiency of bioleaching of up to 100% and 42.5% for copper and gold, respectively, using the two-step method with 2.5 g/L PCB waste after 14 days of the process. The efficiency of bioleaching in a stirred tank reactor was 83% for copper and 24% for gold. The mean metallic particle size obtained after bioleaching varied according to the PCB waste concentration (2.5–10 g/L) added in the experiments. A transmission electron microscope analysis confirmed the synthesis of metallic nanoparticles with spherical morphology. The results indicated that the PCBs bioleaching process with A. niger can be an environmentally friendly alternative to current mechanical and metallurgical processes for metal leaching.

Keywords: electronic waste; filamentous fungus; metallic leaching; urban mining; biohydrometallurgy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/22/9837/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/22/9837/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:22:p:9837-:d:1518700

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().