New Technology Retrieves Pure Precious Metals from E-Waste

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The engineers at Iowa State University are said to have developed a new technology capable of recovering pure and precious metals from the alloys in old phones and other electrical waste. The technique makes use of oxidation technology at relatively much lower temperatures.

According to press release, the team used controlled applications of oxygen and relatively low temperatures to dealloy a metal. The process comprises moving the most reactive components of the metal to the surface, where they form stalagmite-like spikes of metal oxides. That leaves the least-reactive components in a purified, liquid core surrounded by brittle metal-oxide spikes.

Martin Thuo, the leader of the research project and an associate professor of materials science and engineering at Iowa State University noted that the oxidation technology uses temperatures of between 500 and 700 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to traditional electrochemical or high-temperature methods that use temperatures above 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit.

A paper describing the new technology was published in the ‘Materials Horizons’ in January this year.

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