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Turn Trash into Treasure: Breakthrough Method Retrieves 99.9% of Gold from Electronic Waste
IFL Science ^ | January 03, 2025 | Christopher Plain

Posted on 01/03/2025 7:11:06 AM PST by Red Badger

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1 posted on 01/03/2025 7:11:06 AM PST by Red Badger
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To: MtnClimber; SunkenCiv; rktman; mowowie; SuperLuminal; Cottonbay

Golden Ping!..........................


2 posted on 01/03/2025 7:12:21 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Red Badger

People who currently retrieve the gold from circuit boards are not interested in that gold doing anything with co2, they want the gold itself.


3 posted on 01/03/2025 7:13:58 AM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Secret Agent Man

Less deadly than C uhoh 2.


4 posted on 01/03/2025 7:16:10 AM PST by rktman (Destroy America from within ? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this💩? 🚫💉! 🇮🇱👍!)
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To: Red Badger

“chemical-free method”

“synthesized a set of organic materials known as covalent organic frameworks linked with vinyl”

The article quickly contradicts itself.


5 posted on 01/03/2025 7:17:08 AM PST by rightwingcrazy (;-,)
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To: Red Badger
--- "Based on his successful tests, Zadehnazar believes his COF-based process offers the first viable solution that works without these chemicals. It also provides a CO2 conversion, making it a key component of a truly environmentally friendly green electronic waste recycling program."

Beautifully written and ready for inclusion into 1) grant applications from the federal government and 2) the prospectus for luring venture capital to invest in Zadehnazar's BIL's newly formed LLC.

6 posted on 01/03/2025 7:17:34 AM PST by Worldtraveler once upon a time (Degrow government)
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To: Red Badger
”California’s e-waste program…has faced critical cost overruns as out-of-state televisions are regularly recycled in California…the California aluminum can recycling program in California routinely pays out more money than it takes in due to out-of-state cans recycled locally.”

LOL…California do-gooders hoist on their own do-gooder petard. Figures.

7 posted on 01/03/2025 7:22:26 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (Marxism is a politics for the ugly, unwanted, uneducated, unhealthy, and insane.)
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To: Red Badger

I don’t see anything about the cost of this method.

If it cannot produce more value than it costs, it is useless.


8 posted on 01/03/2025 7:23:38 AM PST by marktwain (The Republic is at risk. Resistance to the Democratic Party is Resistance to Tyranny. )
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To: Red Badger

There’s already a widespread simple way to turn carbon dioxide into safe organic material, plants.🌱 🌲🌳


9 posted on 01/03/2025 7:31:20 AM PST by Mastador1
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...
Thanks Red Badger.

10 posted on 01/03/2025 7:32:53 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: Secret Agent Man
People who currently retrieve the gold from circuit boards are not interested in that gold doing anything with co2, they want the gold itself.

The Youtube channel "sreetips" has many videos detailing how to extract and refine gold and silver. It takes some special safety equipment to deal with the chemical fumes.

11 posted on 01/03/2025 7:35:06 AM PST by Myrddin
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To: marktwain
I don’t see anything about the cost of this method.

It's probably heavily dependent upon scaling. Doesn't sound like it's there yet. But at the current price of gold, I'd bet he'll have takers.

12 posted on 01/03/2025 7:39:14 AM PST by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: Red Badger

The back yard smelters that the Chinese use to “refine” gold are far worse than anything I have ever seen. If this causes them to only produce half as much pollution as they currently do, it is a win-win for everyone.

https://youtu.be/-mj4Wd_rmvM?si=_n3tO_eJCGqvVjFS


13 posted on 01/03/2025 7:49:18 AM PST by wbarmy (Trying to do better.)
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To: marktwain

This is the key take away.

““It’s estimated that a ton of e-waste contains at least 10 times more gold than a ton of the ore from which gold is extracted.”l

Having worked in Guyana on a gold mine I can assure you getting gold from Ewaste is more environmentally friendly than hydraulic mining. You first strip mine off all the jungle above the deposits, then using high pressure water hoses you turn to liquid all the underlying strata with the runoff going into sluces where the dense material is separated from the lighter clays and muds. You then use acids to leech the microscopic gold particles out of the remaining materials. All the runoff goes directly into the local watershed untreated I might add. Gold is $2600+ TOZ today if they got 99.9% out of ewaste they are making money for sure as its gold content is an order of magnitude higher than ore you can use chemicals in the $100+ per litre range and laugh all the way to the bank. MOF are cheap they are industrial chemicals used in tonne quantities for such things as catalysts for hydrocarbons cracking they are valued in dollars per metric tonnes not dollars per ounce.

Every ounce recovered from waste means hundreds of tonnes of earth under pristine jungle doesn’t get washed into a River system in the third world and that’s a good thing. I was there for a university friend of mine his father owns the mine and I am a geochemistry expert his son is a hydrologist you need both to hydromine.


14 posted on 01/03/2025 7:49:44 AM PST by GenXPolymath
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To: Red Badger

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/how-much-gold-is-in-your-computer-and-how-efficient-it-is-to-reclaim-it

Some reports tell us that an old-school PC contained an eye-watering $9 worth of gold. But that’s not counting the cost of removing it.

Some other sources estimate that your average computer contains about 1/5th of a gram, or about $12 worth, of gold in them. On the other hand, laptops typically contain about 1/10th of a gram of gold, or around $6 worth.

However, the actual value will depend entirely on the type of e-waste you are looking at. For example, industrial video equipment often has a proportionally higher amount of gold, sometimes above 56 grams per machine.



15 posted on 01/03/2025 7:53:53 AM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued, but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere)
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To: Red Badger

Need something like this for rare earths extraction


16 posted on 01/03/2025 7:55:03 AM PST by bigbob (Yes. We ARE going back!)
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To: Carry_Okie; All

At a 99.9% recovery rate, it would be very nice if it would scale at a reasonable cost.

Lots of gold out there in tailings piles might become valuable.


17 posted on 01/03/2025 7:58:17 AM PST by marktwain (The Republic is at risk. Resistance to the Democratic Party is Resistance to Tyranny. )
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To: Red Badger

“Led by post-doctorate researcher Amin Zadehnazar”

Is this in Iran?


18 posted on 01/03/2025 7:59:46 AM PST by aquila48 (Do not let them make you "care" ! Guilting you is how they. control you. )
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To: aquila48

Cornell................

https://abbaspourradlab.com/


19 posted on 01/03/2025 8:01:18 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Red Badger

What is the net cost of this process?

And how much waste is still left? (99% I bet)


20 posted on 01/03/2025 8:03:21 AM PST by aquila48 (Do not let them make you "care" ! Guilting you is how they. control you. )
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