Chemical recycling of electronic waste for sustainable livelihoods and material consumption in India

目前，只有12%的电子垃圾中的贵金属被回收，在印度，这一数字低至1.5%。印度是世界上第五大电子废物产生国，每年产生超过200万吨电子废物，再加上从其他国家进口的电子废物，导致大量废物倾倒和非正式清理。珠宝行业占全球贵金属使用量的49%，在印度，很大一部分主要是女性农村工匠，她们受到剥削性中间人的剥削，工资和条件很差，尽管保留了他们的文化遗产。该方案开发了新的化学方法，用于回收电子该项目旨在为印度的农村手工珠宝商创造一个新的金属供应链，并建立一个正式的电子废物系统。我们正在结合化学和冶金研究，设计，开发和开发新的化学试剂和方法，用于回收电子废物中的金，铜和稀土元素等金属。我们之所以选择这些金属，是因为它们在现代电子产品中普遍存在（一吨移动的手机含有约300克黄金，而一吨金矿石仅含有3-8克黄金），而且它们可能用于连接印度化学回收商和农村手工珠宝业的新金属供应链（黄金和铜）。这些化学方法也可以在当地范围内进行，对环境的破坏较小，并且可以从印度标准局获得出处。我们的目标是深入了解决定金属分离和溶解过程程度的化学原理，并使用这些原理来定义和生产适合电子废物复杂性的金属分离。为此，我们将利用一系列互补技术来确定化学结构，定义萃取平衡，并了解作用模式。化学家、冶金工程师和工业家之间的合作将促进工艺的发现和实施，开发一个新的可持续的电子废物金属供应链，可能会否定印度非正规的电子废物回收行业。为了完成这项研究工作的循环，我们将与农村手工珠宝商合作，以确定他们的需求，举办讲习班，以开发利用电子废物金属制作高价值珠宝所需的技术，并通过创建监管链标记提供这些材料的来源。这项研究计划汇集了来自英国爱丁堡大学和邓迪大学、印度瓦拉纳西理工学院和印度阿赫梅达巴德国家设计学院的顶尖学术研究人员。

Currently, only 12% of precious metals from electronic waste (e-waste) is recycled, and in India, this figure is as low as 1.5%. India is the world's 5th largest e-waste generator, producing more than 2 million tonnes per year which is compounded by e-waste imports from other countries and leads to large waste dumps and informal scavenging. The jewellery sector accounts for 49% of the global use of precious metals which in India involves a large proportion of predominantly female rural artisans who are subject to exploitative middlemen and poor wages and conditions, despite maintaining their cultural heritage.This programme develops new chemical methods for the recycling of e-waste in order to generate a new metal supply chain for rural artisanal jewellers in India and to create a formalised e-waste system. We are combining chemical and metallurgical research to design, develop, and exploit new chemical reagents and methods for the recycling of metals such as gold, copper, and the rare earth elements from e-waste. We are targeting these metals due to their prevalence in modern electronics (one tonne of mobile phones contains about 300 g of gold, compared with one tonne of gold ore that yields only 3-8 g), and their potential use in a new metal supply chain that connects chemical recyclers and the rural artisanal jewellery industry in India (gold and copper). These chemical methods can also be conducted on a local scale, are less damaging to the environment and can gain provenance from the Bureau of Indian Standards.We aim to develop a deep understanding of the chemical principles that dictate the extent of metal separations and dissolution processes and use these principles to define and produce metal separations suitable for the complexity of e-waste. To do this we will exploit an array of complementary techniques to determine chemical structure, define extraction equilibria, and understand mode of action. The collaborations between chemists, metallurgical engineers, and industrialists will facilitate process discovery and implementation, with the development of a new and sustainable metal supply chain from e-waste potentially negating the informal e-waste recycling industry in India.To complete the circularity of this research work, we will work with rural artisanal jewellers to determine their needs, deliver workshops to develop the techniques required to fabricate high-value jewellery from e-waste metals, and provide provenance for these materials through the creation of a chain of custody mark. Exhibition pieces will be generated and displayed in India and the UK to promote this work and highlight the advantages of this approach.This programme of research brings together leading academic researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh and Dundee in the UK, and Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi and the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad in India.