Every discarded smartphone contains tiny amounts of gold, copper and rare metals. But most of these valuable raw materials end up in the trash instead of in new devices. A team from Saxony wants to change that. The six researchers from the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology have come out on top in a nationwide innovation competition. They will receive more than one million euros to further develop their innovative recycling process.
In the European Union, more than five million tons of electronic waste are generated every year. This contains valuable metals such as gold, copper and rare earths. These raw materials are in short supply and are urgently needed for cell phones, computers and wind turbines. So far, however, it has hardly been possible to recover them from old e-waste. Existing technologies are often too expensive or do not work well enough.
Three-stage process separates metals cleanly
The Freiberg team led by doctoral student Ali Hassan has developed a three-stage process. First, the electronic waste is shredded and sorted. "We first separate plastics from metals to a large extent," explains Hassan. In the second step, the researchers use a process called flotation. In this process, gas bubbles are added to the shredded material. The bubbles attach themselves to certain metal particles and carry them upwards. This creates a foam that can be skimmed off. The substances used are biodegradable. In this way, metals such as gold, copper, tin or palladium can be concentrated.
The third step is a technology developed at the Helmholtz Institute called MAGSEL. With this magnetic separation process, the researchers can also recycle critical raw materials such as rare earths. "Our process is not only highly selective and adaptable to different material flows, but also environmentally friendly, as it does not require toxic chemicals and is energy-saving," emphasizes Hassan. The team's name gets to the heart of the matter. WEEEfficient stands for e-waste recycling that works efficiently.
Eight teams selected from 60 applications
In August, the Federal Agency for Leap Innovations SPRIND launched the "Tech Metal Transformation Challenge". The aim was to find pioneering processes for recovering critical metals from waste streams. In December, an international jury selected eight teams from more than 60 applications. The Freiberg team is one of them. Over the next year, the researchers must test and further develop their process. After each one-year stage, the jury will review the results. Only the most promising teams receive further funding.
"The SPRIND Challenge is a very demanding innovation competition. The success of this young team is therefore a great achievement," says a delighted Prof. Sebastian M. Schmidt, Scientific Director of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, to which the Freiberg institute belongs. The team consists of researchers from Pakistan, Iran, India and Germany. Institute Director Prof. Jens Gutzmer is impressed. The international team has developed a convincing overall concept, he explains. He emphasizes that the challenge is a perfect fit for the research at the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg.
