Bioleaching of gold, copper and nickel from waste cellular phone PCBs and computer goldfinger motherboards by two Aspergillus nigerstrains

Brazilian Journal of Microbiology

Jorge Enrique Madrigal-arias¹  Rosalba Argumedo-delira¹  Alejandro Alarcón¹  Ma. Remedios Mendoza-lópez¹  Oscar García-barradas¹  Jesús Samuel Cruz-sánchez¹  Ronald Ferrera-cerrato¹  Maribel Jiménez-fernández¹ 

关键词: bioleaching;    PCBs;    Aspergillus;    gold;    WEEE;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S1517-838246320140256

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

In an effort to develop alternate techniques to recover metals from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), this research evaluated the bioleaching efficiency of gold (Au), copper (Cu) and nickel (Ni) by two strains of Aspergillus niger in the presence of gold-plated finger integrated circuits found in computer motherboards (GFICMs) and cellular phone printed circuit boards (PCBs). These three metals were analyzed for their commercial value and their diverse applications in the industry. Au-bioleaching ranged from 42 to 1% for Aspergillus niger strain MXPE6; with the combination of Aspergillus niger MXPE6 + Aspergillus niger MX7, the Au-bioleaching was 87 and 28% for PCBs and GFICMs, respectively. In contrast, the bioleaching of Cu by Aspergillus niger MXPE6 was 24 and 5%; using the combination of both strains, the values were 0.2 and 29% for PCBs and GFICMs, respectively. Fungal Ni-leaching was only found for PCBs, but with no significant differences among treatments. Improvement of the metal recovery efficiency by means of fungal metabolism is also discussed.

【 授权许可】

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