In 2025, it is not uncommon for the typical household to overfill the drawer with discarded phones and cables. But this cemetery of the scheme is not just a static memorial for past technological trends. For those who want to make the effort, each of those old iPhone and micro USB cables still contains a small amount of valuable metals and minerals – including gold. Researchers believe that a PCB can contain about 200-900 mg of gold per kilogram.
The actual extraction of these precious metals from discarded technology is a laborious process. Historically, this often requires the use of highly toxic chemicals such as cyanide and mercury, which can be harmful to people who make extraction and the environment. But researchers at Flinders University in Australia now say that they have developed a new method of extracting gold and recycling, which is far less dangerous and may have a more environmental impact if it is a scales for production. By using a reagent of a leak derived from trichloroisocinic acid – a resistant compound, commonly used in water disinfection – they were able to dissolve and extract gold without relying on dangerous chemicals.
Researchers who published their discoveries in the magazine Nature resistance This week they demonstrate that they can use their process to extract gold from electronic waste as well as ore used.
“Overall, this work provides a viable approach to achieve more environmental gold production of both primary and secondary resources, improving the sustainability of gold supply,” they wrote in the document.
Why is the gold in electronics
Gold has attracted human attention for millennia. He supported the currency of empires, decorated countless pieces of royal jewelry and worried in the root canals. Today, the coveted element is widely used in electronics, valuable for its natural electrical conductivity, durability and high corrosion resistance. As a result, most devices found at the typical office workers’ desk are probably available in most of the devices found at the typical office office. And while technology companies have been taking steps to extract and recycle this gold for years, much of it is still on the landfills. The United Nations organization estimates that the world produced about 62 million tonnes of electronic waste in 2022-Dipra, which is 82 percent since 2010.
Pollution from toxic substances used to undress gold from devices is not the only concern. The process of industrial extraction usually requires huge amounts of water, further complicating the environmental impact. The outflow of these facilities can also penetrate food supplies or local wildlife.
Researchers at Flinders University have taken a different approach. First, they have developed a process using trichloroisocyic acid, which, when activated by salt water, effectively dissolves gold without the need for toxic substances. They then tied the dissolved gold with a new sulfur -rich polymer they designed themselves. The polymer is designed to serve as a means of selectively capturing gold, even in the presence of many other metals. Once the gold was extracted, the polymer could “do not”, returning to its monometer state and leaving the gold behind. This fully separated gold can be recycled and used again in new products.
“The aim is to provide effective methods for the restoration of gold that support the many use of gold, while reducing environmental and human health impact,” said Professor of the University Flinders and the document author Justin Chalker.
In testing, researchers demonstrate that their process can extract gold not only from electronic waste, but also from ore concentrates and scientific flows of waste. Although the large volume of global electronic waste makes it the most obvious candidate to take advantage of this method. Researchers say they are currently working with mining and electronic waste recycling companies to test the process on a larger scale.
“We dived in an electronic waste mound and climbed a block of gold!” Flinders University’s scientific research and paper co -author Harsal Patel said in a statement. “I hope this study inspires impactful solutions to the urgent global challenges.”
What to do with all this electronic waste at the moment
This said that daily electronics users should not wait for this new method to increase in order to take advantage of recycling electronic waste. Most major cities have certified electronic waste recycling centers that take large amounts of e -ejected electronics.
Local scrap yards, as well as some private companies, will also pay a small amount for defective devices – especially those that contain relatively large quantities of gold, silver or copper. Large non -profit organizations such as Goodwill also offer electronics recycling services. Many of these organizations deal with hard work on the separation of components from the devices used, and then sell the individual parts of industrial recycling.