title: Bioleaching of gold, copper and nickel from waste cellular phone PCBs and computer goldfinger motherboards by two Aspergillus nigerstrains.
abstract: In an effort to develop alternate techniques to recover metals from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), this research evaluated the bioleaching efficiency of gold (Au), copper (Cu) and nickel (Ni) by two strains of Aspergillus niger in the presence of gold-plated finger integrated circuits found in computer motherboards (GFICMs) and cellular phone printed circuit boards (PCBs). These three metals were analyzed for their commercial value and their diverse applications in the industry. Au-bioleaching ranged from 42 to 1% for Aspergillus niger strain MXPE6; with the combination of Aspergillus niger MXPE6 + Aspergillus niger MX7, the Au-bioleaching was 87 and 28% for PCBs and GFICMs, respectively. In contrast, the bioleaching of Cu by Aspergillus niger MXPE6 was 24 and 5%; using the combination of both strains, the values were 0.2 and 29% for PCBs and GFICMs, respectively. Fungal Ni-leaching was only found for PCBs, but with no significant differences among treatments. Improvement of the metal recovery efficiency by means of fungal metabolism is also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Veracruzana, Veracruz, México .
authors.forename: Jorge Enrique
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Madrigal-Arias
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Servicios de Apoyo en Resolución Analítica, Universidad Veracruzana, Veracruz, México .
authors.forename: Rosalba
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Argumedo-Delira
authors.affiliation: Área de Microbiología, Postgrado de Edafología, Colegio de Postgraduados, Estado de México, México .
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alarcón
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Servicios de Apoyo en Resolución Analítica, Universidad Veracruzana, Veracruz, México .
authors.forename: Ma Remedios
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Mendoza-López
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Servicios de Apoyo en Resolución Analítica, Universidad Veracruzana, Veracruz, México .
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: García-Barradas
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Servicios de Apoyo en Resolución Analítica, Universidad Veracruzana, Veracruz, México .
authors.forename: Jesús Samuel
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Cruz-Sánchez
authors.affiliation: Área de Microbiología, Postgrado de Edafología, Colegio de Postgraduados, Estado de México, México .
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ferrera-Cerrato
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Veracruzana, Veracruz, México .
authors.forename: Maribel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jiménez-Fernández
mesh_terms: D001234:Aspergillus niger / Q000201:enzymology / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D019149:Bioreactors / Q000382:microbiology; D040421:Cell Phone; D003201:Computers; D003300:Copper / Q000378:metabolism*; D059029:Electronic Waste; D006046:Gold / Q000378:metabolism*; D009532:Nickel / Q000378:metabolism*; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000378:metabolism*; D018505:Waste Management / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D006046:Gold; D003300:Copper; D009532:Nickel; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
keywords: Aspergillus; PCBs; WEEE; bioleaching; gold