EFRI ELiS: Engineering Fungal Platforms for Sustainable Biomining and Recovery of Valuable Metals from Electronic Wastes

镍(Ni)、钴(Co)等关键金属是电池和其他电子设备中必不可少的部件。预计未来几十年对这些金属的需求将快速增长。需要为这些关键金属获得可靠的国内来源，以支持绿色经济和持续的国家经济发展和安全。传统的采矿方法是能源密集型的，会产生化学废物，损害当地和全球环境。迫切需要创新和可持续的方法，以便从矿山和其他未开发来源获得有价值的金属。二手锂离子电池(LIB)代表着一种潜在的丰富且不断增长的关键金属来源。该项目的目标是实施一种新的方法，利用真菌的生物流体结合先进的电化学技术从废LIBS中捕获和回收稀有金属。为了推进这一目标，首席调查人员(PI)建议使用化学模型来确定有效的金属生物合成化合物，使用代谢工程来增强用于生物合成的化合物，并优化生物合成条件以开发可扩展的过程。将使用技术经济和生命周期评估(TEA/LCA)来确定哪种工艺在经济上可行和对环境有益。这项工作的伦理、法律和社会影响将通过支持社区教育和参与以及审查与真菌生物结合有关的伦理和法律问题来解决。该项目的成功完成将使社会受益，因为它将产生促进使用生物酸的基础知识，以从LIBS中回收有价值的金属以供再利用。还将通过学生教育和培训为社会带来更多好处，包括指导约翰·霍普金斯大学的四名研究生和巴尔的摩县马里兰大学的一名研究生。需要一种可持续的、基于生物的金属提取和回收采矿技术，以满足电子设备对这些金属日益增长的需求。该项目的目标是利用强大的真菌宿主(曲霉)，提高从废旧锂离子电池(LIBS)中提取有价值的金属镍(Ni)和钴(Co)的能力。来自曲霉属的真菌分泌生物酸和其他金属载体，有助于从固体废物中溶解金属。利用真菌代谢物与不同金属离子之间的化学作用模型，将确定有效溶解钴和镍的生物酸和金属团。优化真菌代谢途径，上游生物浸出和下游净化(由电化学刺激驱动)将被实施，以最大限度地提高金属回收率。此外，还将调查不同的碳源，包括木质纤维素或蓝藻伙伴，以降低生产BIOACID的成本并增强工艺的可持续性。然后，这些步骤将被组合成一个集成的生物制造平台。将通过技术经济和生命周期评估(TEA/LCA)以及潜在的社会、伦理和法律影响对生物采矿方法进行评估，以确保拟议的生物采矿平台对环境无害、经济可行，并与当地社区充分融合。这项研究的成功完成，促进了对开发生物采矿系统以从电子废物中回收有价值金属所需的生物和工程框架的基本了解。为了实现该项目的教育和培训目标，首席调查员(PI)建议与当地一所高中巴尔的摩城市社区学院和一个名为Adelante Latina的课外项目合作，通过约翰霍普金斯大学和UMBC现有的研究经验和指导(REM)为拉美裔高中生提供暑期研究项目。此外，该团队计划与当地一所小学/中学和约翰霍普金斯大学可持续发展办公室合作，收集用于研究的可充电LIBS。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Critical metals such as nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), and others are necessary components in batteries and other electronic devices. Demand for these metals is expected to grow rapidly in the coming decades. Obtaining reliable domestic sources for these critical metals is needed to support the green economy and continued national economic development and security. Traditional mining approaches are energy intensive and generate chemical waste that can harm local and global environments. Innovative and sustainable methods are urgently needed to obtain valuable metals from mines and other untapped sources. Used lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) represent a potentially rich and growing source of critical metals. The goal of this project is to implement a novel approach to capture and recover scarce metals from waste LIBs using biofluids from fungi combined with advanced electrochemical techniques. To advance this goal, the Principal Investigators (PIs) propose to identify efficient metal biomining compounds using a chemistry model, use metabolic engineering to enhance compounds used for biomining, and optimize the biomining conditions to develop a scalable process. Techno-economic and life cycle assessments (TEA/LCA) will be used to determine which process is economically viable and environmentally beneficial. The ethical, legal, and social implications of the work will be addressed through the support of community education and engagement as well as an examination of ethical and legal issues involving biomining with fungi. The successful completion of this project will benefit society through the generation of fundamental knowledge to advance the use of bioacids to recycle valuable metals from LIBs for reuse. Additional benefits to society will be achieved through student education and training including the mentoring of four graduate students at Johns Hopkins University and one graduate student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).A sustainable, bio-based mining technology for metal extraction and recovery is needed to address the growing need for these metals in electronic devices. The goal of this project is to enhance the extraction of valuable metals, nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co) from used lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), using robust fungal hosts (Aspergillus spp.). Fungi from the genus Aspergillus secrete bioacids and other metallophores that can help solubilize metals from solid wastes. Using models of chemical interactions between fungal metabolites and different metal ions, bioacids and metallophores will be identified that are effective for solubilizing Co and Ni. Optimization of fungal metabolic pathways, upstream bioleaching, and downstream purification (driven by electrochemical stimuli) will be implemented to maximize metal recovery. In addition, different carbon sources will be investigated, including lignocellulosics or cyanobacterial partners, to reduce the cost of bioacid production and enhance process sustainability. These steps will then be combined into an integrated biomining manufacturing platform. The biomining approach will be evaluated through techno-economic and life cycle assessments (TEA/LCA) and the underlying social, ethical, and legal implications considered to ensure the proposed biomining platform is environmentally sound, economically viable, and fully integrated with the local community. The successful completion of this research with advance the fundamental understanding of the biological and engineering framework needed to develop biomining systems for the recovery of valuable metals from electronic wastes. To implement the education and training goals of the project, the Principal Investigators (PIs) propose to engage with a local high school, the Baltimore City Community College, and an after-school program, Adelante Latina, for Latina high school students to provide a summer research program through an existing Research Experience and Mentoring (REM) at Johns Hopkins University and UMBC. In addition, the team plans to partner with a local elementary/middle school and the Johns Hopkins University Office of Sustainability to collect rechargeable LIBs to be used in the research.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.