E-Waste Precious Metal Recovery System CircuitHarvest Surpasses 95% Efficiency: 280 Grams of Gold per Ton of Circuit Boards
Australian mining tech company CircuitHarvest develops a combined bioleaching and supercritical fluid extraction process, lifting precious metal recovery from e-waste from the traditional 60% to 95% while cutting processing costs by 70%.
Australian mining technology company CircuitHarvest has developed an e-waste precious metal recovery system combining bioleaching with supercritical fluid extraction. The system recovers approximately 280 grams of gold, 1,200 grams of silver, and 80 grams of palladium from each ton of waste circuit boards, achieving a combined recovery rate of 95%.
Traditional e-waste recycling relies on acid leaching and incineration, yielding roughly 60% recovery while generating significant toxic emissions. CircuitHarvest uses genetically engineered metallophilic bacteria for low-temperature bioleaching, followed by supercritical CO2 extraction of precious metal ions, with the entire process completing below 60 degrees Celsius.
The company has built a 5,000-ton-per-year demonstration plant in Melbourne and plans to construct facilities of equal capacity in Guangdong and Belgium by 2029.
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