Fraunhofer Research Institution for Materials Recycling and Resource Strategies IWKSPutting circular economy first – bioleaching as environmentally friendly recycling
According to the motto “Towards a Circular Economy“, the organization “Minerals En-gineering International“ (MEI) hosted the 5th International Symposium on Sustainable Minerals. The idea behind the conference series is the rapid growth of the world econ-omy, straining natural resources due to today‘s extensive use of metals, materials and products. A wise and sustainable application and use of these resources supported by the reuse and recycling of these materials and end-of-life products is crucial for the preservation of the environment. The realization of the sustainable use of resources de-mands a harmonization and connection of different disciplines of the material and con-sumer product system. This is one of the focus topics of the conference which dis-cussed all aspects of material and metal usage.
In his lecture, Prof. Dr. Rudolf Stauber, Managing Director of the Fraunhofer Project Group Materials Recycling and Resource Strategies IWKS, presented the advancing de-velopment of new technologies, resulting in an increased demand for raw materials. As primary resources are finite and mining has to be constantly optimized in order to ex-tract raw materials from larger depths, costs rise and recycling becomes attractive. Re-cycling of metal-containing waste is currently performed only to a limited extent and huge amounts of potential recyclables are not made available for re-use. Conventional recycling strategies based on pyrometallurgical or hydrometallurgical processes are of-ten costly due to high energy requirements and usage of chemicals. Bioleaching offers an environmentally friendly recycling strategy, where leaching of waste material is per-formed by microorganisms. To underline this point, Prof. Stauber presented a study that looked into the recycling potential of end-of life magnets by bioleaching with vari-ous bacteria. The highest leaching efficiencies were achieved with bacteria of the fer-rooxidans species which makes this process very promising for future industry application.
The next conference will be held in June 2020 in Falmouth, United Kingdom. Please find more information on the process of bioleaching and its application in the research of the Fraunhofer Project Group IWKS here.