I-Corps: Sorting of Metals for Electronics Recycling

来自消费电子电子废物的贵金属（金、钯、银、铜）的估计价值为5亿美元/年，而且还在增长;但只有20%的电子废物被收集和分离用于回收，每年在垃圾填埋场留下4亿美元的贵金属。目前的贵金属回收工艺主要包括人工分拣、热解、水解、报废和冶炼，这些工艺是能源密集型的，或者涉及硝酸和氯气等危险化学品。各地区开始实施法规，要求负责任地处理电子废物，从而进一步刺激市场增长和对不同技术的需求。控制纳米颗粒流体动力学的独特光学力和化学环境的知识可以帮助金属纳米颗粒的分离和分选。对不同金属的表面增强机械效应的选择性控制将应用于化学废物的清理和金属颗粒的提取或回收。该团队开发了一种光学分离和分选方法，可以通过安全的水环境中的微流体通道，使用节能激光器或LED进行远程控制。 拟议的产品是一种即插即用的解决方案，用于电子废物预处理公司使用光学响应来分离不同的材料。 拟议的技术将比传统的冶炼更具成本效益，更容易操作，使用更少的能源，并且可以作为一个更小的可扩展系统运行。

The estimated value of precious metals from consumer-electronic e-waste (gold, palladium, silver, copper) is $500M/yr and growing; yet only 20% of e-waste is collected and separated for recycling, leaving $400M/yr of precious metals in landfills. The current precious metals recycling processes primarily include manual sorting, pyrolysis, hydrolysis, scrapping and smelting that are energy intensive or involve hazardous chemicals such as nitric acid and chlorine gas. Regions are beginning to implement regulations mandating the responsible disposal of e-waste, thus further spurring market growth and the need for different technologies.Knowledge of the distinct optical forces and chemical environments that control the hydrodynamics of nanoparticles could assist with the separation and sorting of metal nanoparticles. Selective control over the surface-enhanced mechanical effects on different metals would have applications towards the clean-up of chemical waste and the extraction or recycling of metal particulates. This team has developed a method for optical separation and sorting that could be controlled remotely via microfluidic channels in a safe aqueous environment, using energy-efficient lasers or LEDs. The proposed product is a plug-and-play solution for e-waste pre-processing companies using an optical response to separate different materials. The proposed technology will be more cost-effective than traditional smelting, easier to operate, will use less energy and can operate as a smaller, scalable system.