Effects of Extracellular Polymeric Substances and Specific Compositions on Enhancement of Copper Bioleaching Efficiency from Waste Printed Circuit Boards

Jin Xu, Nengwu Zhu, Ruying Yang, Chong Yang and Pingxiao Wu
Additional contact information
Jin Xu: School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Nengwu Zhu: School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Ruying Yang: School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Chong Yang: School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Pingxiao Wu: School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-12

Abstract: Bioleaching has been proven to be an efficient and environment-friendly method for processing metalliferous ore and waste printed circuit boards (PCBs), a type of urban mine waste. Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) play a major role in the attachment of bacteria to the surface of sulfide minerals. However, there are few reports on the effects of EPS components on the bioleaching of metals from PCBs. In this study, synthetic EPS were used to investigate the effects of the composition of exo-polymers on the bioleaching of copper from waste PCBs, including the process efficiency. The copper extraction rate in bioleaching assays with synthetic EPS was 11.7% greater than in those without synthetic EPS. Moreover, the composition of EPS was proven to be a crucial factor affecting the efficiency of copper bioleaching, with EPS containing arginine yielding the highest recovery (95.2% copper). Under the condition of 0.5 g/L synthetic EPS added at the early stage of log phase, the copper leaching efficiency from waste PCBs was highly improved. This study provides important insights into how to analyze the working mechanisms of EPS for a better recovery efficiency.

Keywords: waste electrical and electronic equipment; printed circuit boards; Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans; extracellular polymeric substances; bioleaching; copper (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/5/2503/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/5/2503/ (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:14:y:2022:i:5:p:2503-:d:755613

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 ().