Swiss Researchers Developed An Eco-Friendly Sponge That Can Sustainably And Economically Extract Gold From Old Computers

Written by Bruno Teles

Published on 02/08/2024 at 14:57

Imagem: MJ/Divulgação

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Researchers Create Ecological Sponge That Can Extract Gold From Old Computers

In a promising advancement for electronic recycling, Swiss researchers have developed an ecological sponge that can extract gold from old computers. Besides being a more sustainable solution, this innovation uses 50% less energy than conventional methods.

Here’s a breakthrough that could change the game in electronic recycling! A clever team from ETH Zurich in Switzerland decided to invent an ecological sponge to extract gold from old computers. That’s right, the hidden gold in electronic waste that we never imagined was there. And the best part: the whole process consumes half the energy that conventional methods use.

Magic Sponge That Pulls Gold Like A Magnet

Professor Raffaele Mezzenga and his team deserve an award for this idea. They took whey proteins, transformed them into nanofibrils, and created a magic sponge that pulls gold like a magnet. In tests, they managed to extract a 22-carat gold nugget weighing 450 milligrams from 20 old computer motherboards. That amounts to about R$ 164 at today’s rate, without consuming much energy and without using toxic chemicals.

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How The Ecological Sponge Works

So how did they do this? First, they dissolved the metallic parts of the motherboards in an acidic bath, ionizing the metals. Then, they threw the sponge into this solution and, like magic, the gold ions were attracted to the fibers of the sponge. They heated the sponge to transform the gold ions into flakes and then melted the flakes to make the nugget.

Swiss researchers developed an ecological sponge that can extract gold from old computers in a sustainable and economical way

Professor Mezzenga explained that electronic waste is a mine of valuable metals, but so far the techniques for recovering these metals consume a lot of energy and use dangerous chemicals. The ecological sponge changes this scenario, being a cheaper and less polluting alternative.

The Team Now Wants To Take This Technology To Market

“The most amazing thing is that we are using a byproduct of the food industry to recover gold from electronic waste”, said Professor Raffaele. The team now wants to take this technology to market and see if it’s possible to make sponges with other disposable byproducts. “You can’t get more sustainable than this!” he concluded.

This ecological sponge promises to revolutionize electronic recycling, allowing gold to be recovered from old computers in a more sustainable and economical way. It remains to be seen if the industry will adopt this innovation and help reduce the environmental impact of electronic waste. Let’s hope so, right?

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#136809

21/05/2025 01:30

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20/05/2025 04:30

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19/05/2025 21:45

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Swiss Researchers Developed An Eco-Friendly Sponge That Can Sustainably And Economically Extract Gold From Old Computers

Researchers Create Ecological Sponge That Can Extract Gold From Old Computers

Magic Sponge That Pulls Gold Like A Magnet

How The Ecological Sponge Works

The Team Now Wants To Take This Technology To Market

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Swiss Researchers Developed An Eco-Friendly Sponge That Can Sustainably And Economically Extract Gold From Old Computers

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Magic Sponge That Pulls Gold Like A Magnet

How The Ecological Sponge Works

The Team Now Wants To Take This Technology To Market

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Workers were opening a modern road in Dover when they found, 6 meters below the asphalt, a 3,500-year-old boat made of stitched oak and plant fibers.

A giant brown band visible from space, approximately 8,850 kilometers long, connected Africa to America in the Atlantic Ocean, and satellites revealed that it is neither land nor pollution, but the largest accumulation of seaweed in the world, which broke records in 2025.

Engineers want to carve through Africa with a giant canal to bring water from the world’s second-largest river to a dying lake on the edge of the Sahara Desert that has already lost 90% of its water.

Consumers eat six times more chicken than in the 1960s, global meat supply quadruples in 60 years, and FAO report reveals the invisible cost on the plate: livestock could drive 80% of the increase in agricultural emissions over the next decade.

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