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A Critical Review on the Recovery of Base and Critical Elements from Electronic Waste-Contaminated Streams Using Microbial Biotechnology

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Abstract

Pollution by end-of-life electronics is a rapid ever-increasing threat and is a universal concern with production of million metric tons of these wastes per annum. Electronic wastes (E-waste) are rejected electric or electronic equipment which have no other applications. The aggrandized unproper land filling of E-waste may generate hazardous effects on living organisms and ecosystem. At present, millions of tons of E-waste await the advancement of more efficient and worthwhile recycling techniques. Recovery of base and critical elements from electronic scraps will not only reduce the mining of these elements from natural resources but also reduces the contamination caused by the hazardous chemicals (mostly organic micropollutants) released from these wastes when unproperly disposed of. Bioleaching is reported to be the most eco-friendly process for metal recycling from spent electronic goods. A detailed investigation of microbial biodiversity and a molecular understanding of the metabolic pathways of bioleaching microorganisms will play a vital function in extraction of valuable minerals from the end-of-life scraps. Bioleaching technique as an economic and green technology costs around 7 USD per kg for effective reusing of E-waste as compared to other physical and chemical techniques. This review provides a summary of worldwide scenario of electronic pollutants; generation, composition and hazardous components of electronic waste; recycling of valuable elements through bioleaching; mechanism of bioleaching; microorganisms involved in base and critical element recovery from E-waste; commercial bioleaching operations; and upcoming aspects of this eco-friendly technique.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, College of Basic Science and Humanities, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, 751003, Odisha, India

    Sunanda Mishra

  2. Mongia Green Foundation, Kolkata, 700091, India

    Shreya Ghosh

  3. Université Paris Cité, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, CNRS, 75005, Paris, France

    Eric D. van Hullebusch

  4. Department of Life Sciences, Rama Devi Women’s University, 751022, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

    Shikha Singh & Alok Prasad Das

Authors
  1. Sunanda Mishra
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  2. Shreya Ghosh
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  3. Eric D. van Hullebusch
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  4. Shikha Singh
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  5. Alok Prasad Das
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Contributions

Sunanda Mishra contributed to the conception of the study and collected data from scientific articles, and Shreya Gosh wrote the manuscript. Eric van Hullebusch and Shikha Singh performed the supervision, conceptualization and validation, and Alok Prasad Das edited the whole manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Alok Prasad Das.

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Mishra, S., Ghosh, S., van Hullebusch, E.D. et al. A Critical Review on the Recovery of Base and Critical Elements from Electronic Waste-Contaminated Streams Using Microbial Biotechnology. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 195, 7859–7888 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-023-04440-x

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