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的必要组成部分。预计未来几十年，对这些金属的需求将迅速增长。为支持绿色经济和持续的国家经济发展和安全，需要获得这些关键金属的可靠国内来源。传统的采矿方法是能源密集型的，产生的化学废物可能损害当地和全球环境。迫切需要创新和可持续的方法从矿山和其他未开发的资源中获得有价值的金属。废旧锂离子电池（lib）是一种潜在的、丰富的、不断增长的关键金属资源。该项目的目标是实现一种利用真菌生物流体结合先进的电化学技术从废lib中捕获和回收稀有金属的新方法。为了实现这一目标，首席研究员（pi）建议使用化学模型识别有效的金属生物矿化化合物，使用代谢工程来增强用于生物矿化的化合物，并优化生物矿化条件以开发可扩展的过程。技术经济和生命周期评价（TEA/LCA）将用于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，以及对涉及真菌生物矿化的伦理和法律问题的审查来解决。该项目的成功完成将通过产生基础知识来促进生物酸的使用，从而从lib中回收有价值的金属进行再利用，从而造福社会。通过学生教育和培训，包括约翰霍普金斯大学的四名研究生和马里兰大学巴尔的摩县（UMBC）的一名研究生的指导，将为社会带来额外的好处。为了满足电子设备对金属日益增长的需求，需要一种可持续的、基于生物的金属提取和回收采矿技术。该项目的目标是利用强大的真菌宿主（曲霉属），提高从废旧锂离子电池（LIBs）中提取有价金属镍（Ni）和钴（Co）的能力。曲霉属的真菌分泌生物酸和其他金属微粒，可以帮助溶解固体废物中的金属。利用真菌代谢物与不同金属离子之间的化学相互作用模型，将确定对Co和Ni有效的生物酸和金属载体。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）将实现金属回收率最大化。此外，将研究不同的碳源，包括木质纤维素或蓝藻合作伙伴，以降低生物酸生产的成本，提高过程的可持续性。然后将这些步骤组合成一个集成的生物采矿制造平台。生物采矿方法将通过技术经济和生命周期评估（TEA/LCA）进行评估，并考虑潜在的社会、伦理和法律影响，以确保拟议的生物采矿平台对环境无害，经济上可行，并与当地社区充分结合。这项研究的成功完成促进了对开发用于从电子废物中回收有价值金属的生物采矿系统所需的生物和工程框架的基本理解。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课后项目Adelante Latina合作，为拉丁裔高中生提供一个暑期研究项目，通过约翰霍普金斯大学和UMBC现有的研究经验和指导（REM）。此外，该团队计划与当地的小学/中学和约翰霍普金斯大学可持续发展办公室合作，收集可充电的lib用于研究。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.