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

目前，电子垃圾(电子垃圾)中只有12%的贵金属被回收利用，在印度，这一数字低至1.5%。印度是世界第五大电子垃圾产生国，每年产生200多万吨电子垃圾，再加上从其他国家进口的电子垃圾，导致大量垃圾倾倒和非正式的清理。珠宝行业占全球贵金属使用量的49%，在印度，以女性为主的农村工匠占很大比例，她们尽管保留了自己的文化遗产，但仍受到剥削的中间人和低工资和条件的影响。该方案开发了回收电子垃圾的新化学方法，以便为印度农村手工珠宝商产生新的金属供应链，并创建一个正式的电子垃圾系统。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，以回收电子垃圾中的金、铜和稀土元素等金属。我们之所以瞄准这些金属，是因为它们在现代电子产品中的普遍存在(一吨手机含有约300克黄金，而一吨黄金矿石的产量仅为3-8克)，以及它们在连接化学回收商和印度农村手工珠宝行业(金和铜)的新金属供应链中的潜在用途。这些化学方法也可以在当地进行，对环境的破坏较小，并可以从印度标准局获得来源。我们的目标是加深对决定金属分离和溶解过程程度的化学原理的理解，并使用这些原理来定义和产生适合电子垃圾复杂性的金属分离。为此，我们将利用一系列补充技术来确定化学结构，定义提取平衡，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过程的发现和实施，利用电子废物开发一种新的可持续的金属供应链，潜在地否定印度非正式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，确定他们的需求，举办研讨会，开发从电子废物金属制造高价值珠宝所需的技术，并通过创建保管标志链来为这些材料提供来源。将在印度和英国制作并展示展览作品，以宣传这项工作并突出这种方法的优势。这项研究计划汇集了来自英国爱丁堡大学和邓迪大学以及印度瓦拉纳西理工学院和印度艾哈迈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.