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Household Appliances With 22-Karat Gold May Be In Your Home! Scientists Identify Devices With Golden Components And Reveal An Innovative Method To Extract This Rare Metal Sustainably.
Household Appliances With 22-Karat Gold: Electronics such as cell phones, computers, and tablets, often forgotten in drawers, may contain small amounts of 22-karat gold in their internal components. The same precious metal used in jewelry manufacturing is found in electronic boards, connectors, and circuits, playing a crucial role in conducting electricity. According to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the recovery of gold from electronic devices has become a promising field for recycling and sustainability. Recently, researchers developed a new, more efficient method for extracting this rare metal from discarded devices, facilitating its reuse in the tech industry and reducing the need for mining.
Switzerland Discovers Method To Extract 22-Karat Gold From Household Appliances
The news is that researchers from ETH Zurich, in Switzerland, have discovered an innovative way to extract this precious metal from electronic waste using a simple solution. To extract the metal from household appliances with 22-karat gold, by-products from the food industry, such as cheese production waste, are used.
It is important to mention that each year, millions of tons of household appliances are discarded around the world, and in 2023 alone, more than 53 million tons were discarded. Electronic boards contain valuable metals like gold, silver, and copper, but less than 20% is recovered.
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The rest ends up in landfills or is processed using polluting methods that involve toxic chemicals, such as nitric acid or cyanide. In addition to the environmental risk of extracting metal from household appliances with 22-karat gold, the traditional process consumes a lot of energy and has low efficiency.
The solution found by Switzerland came from a very unlikely source. It is whey, a liquid by-product that arises in cheese production. When heated in acidic conditions, the proteins in this whey convert into nanofibers, structures that form a kind of gel. This material, when dried, becomes a lightweight, porous sponge, similar to a piece of Styrofoam.
Extraction Process of Metal from Household Appliances with 22-Karat Gold
The process begins when the sponge is submerged in a solution containing dissolved metals from shredded electronic boards.
The nanofibers in the sponge have a special chemical affinity for gold ions, attracting them like a magnet. After saturating the sponge with golden particles, scientists burn it at high temperatures.
In one test, which used 20 household appliance boards with 22-karat gold, mainly motherboards from old computers, 450 milligrams of gold were obtained, an alloy of 91% gold and 9% copper, valued at approximately 33 dollars.
It may seem small, but on a large scale, these numbers would change drastically. One ton of discarded cell phones contains up to 300 grams of gold, while one ton of ore extracted from a common mine has, on average, only 5 grams.
Researchers’ Technique Also Involves Sustainability
In addition to recovering metals, the Swiss technique promotes a circular economy. Waste from cheese production, which requires complex treatment to avoid polluting the environment, gains new utility. To put it in perspective, the dairy industry produces about 180 million tons of whey per year; part of this volume could be transformed into sponges for urban mining.
While traditional mining methods require deep excavations, deforestation, and large volumes of water, gold extraction from boards reduces pressure on natural resources, and the best part is that each protein sponge used is biodegradable, closing the cycle without leaving toxic traces.
Attention Before Trying to Recover Gold from Household Appliances!
Although many electronic devices and household appliances contain small amounts of 22-karat gold, the process of extracting this metal requires adequate equipment, technical knowledge, and specific chemicals, which can be hazardous to health and the environment.
Improper dismantling of devices can permanently damage them, in addition to exposing the user to toxic materials, such as mercury and lead, present in some electronic boards.
Therefore, the safest and most sustainable way to deal with this type of waste is through specialized recycling.
Certified companies and proper disposal programs are responsible for safely recovering precious metals, reducing environmental impact and encouraging the reuse of valuable resources. If you want to contribute to this initiative, look for electronic waste collection points or companies specializing in electronics recycling in your area.
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