{"id":176795,"date":"2026-05-15T07:29:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T05:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=176795"},"modified":"2026-05-13T15:45:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T13:45:15","slug":"microbes-and-algae-as-treasure-hunters-biological-recycling-of-electronic-waste-shows-great-potential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/microbes-and-algae-as-treasure-hunters-biological-recycling-of-electronic-waste-shows-great-potential\/","title":{"rendered":"Microbes and algae as treasure hunters: Biological recycling of electronic waste shows great potential"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\"Electronic<\/a>
Electronic waste such as circuit boards contains valuable metals. \u00a9 Fraunhofer IGB<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Microorganisms and microalgae can be used to recover valuable metals from electronic waste \u2013 in an environmentally friendly, selective manner with potential for industrial application. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB demonstrated this in a study. At IFAT 2026, the leading trade fair for environmental technologies in Munich, IGB will demonstrate how this biological recycling works using a fixed-bed reactor. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millions of tons of electronic waste are generated worldwide every year. Old smartphones, laptops, and other electronic devices contain valuable metals such as palladium and neodymium \u2013 raw materials that are indispensable for the production of modern technologies, electric motors, and wind turbines. So far, however, only a fraction of these metals has been recycled. The R\u00fcBioM feasibility study by Fraunhofer IGB in Stuttgart showed that biological processes offer a promising alternative here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bioleaching: Microorganisms extract valuable metals<\/h3>\n\n\n
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\"Electronic<\/a>
Electronic waste in a biomining reactor
\u00a9 Fraunhofer IGB<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

At the heart of the process is a technique known as bioleaching: microorganisms such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa <\/em>are applied to shredded electronic waste. They produce acids and other compounds that selectively extract metals from the material. The resulting metal-containing solution is then treated using microalgae \u2013 the algae absorb the metal ions through biosorption, acting like biological sponges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Promising laboratory results<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cThe results of the feasibility study are encouraging,\u201d summarizes project manager Dr. Lukas Kriem<\/strong>. \u201cWe initially focused on palladium and investigated both bioleaching and biosorption. With bioleaching, the release rate was more than 13 percent higher than with comparable chemical methods. Using biosorption, we were even able to remove over 30 percent of the dissolved palladium.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The bioleaching of neodymium with the aid of various microorganisms was also examined closely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cHere, too, we see positive initial results, though these cannot \u2013 yet \u2013 compete with chemical processes,\u201d Kriem<\/strong> continues.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, these processes were tested on a larger scale in a fixed-bed reactor. Despite technical challenges such as biofilm formation and uneven flow, palladium was successfully mobilized \u2013 an important step toward industrial scalability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sustainable, resource-efficient, and economically viable<\/h3>\n\n\n
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\"Testing<\/a>
Testing of various microorganisms for the mobilization of metals in shaking flasks \u00a9 Fraunhofer IGB<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The biological process offers decisive advantages over conventional methods: It does not require toxic chemicals, operates at low temperatures, and enables selective metal recovery. In this way, biomining makes an important contribution to the circular economy and can reduce Europe\u2019s dependence on metal imports from geopolitically sensitive regions \u2013 an aspect whose importance has become clear due to supply chain disruptions in recent years. \u201cSometimes the treasure isn\u2019t buried deep underground, but right in our drawer,\u201d Kriem sums up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outlook: Bio-recycling plants as a model for the future<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The researchers\u2019 vision is a decentralized bio-recycling infrastructure in which microbes and algae recover valuable raw materials from end-of-life devices locally and feed them directly into the production of new devices. To achieve this goal, further optimization of cultivation conditions and an economic evaluation of the processes are necessary. However, the groundwork has been laid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fraunhofer IGB is now actively seeking partners from the waste management sector and industry for joint follow-up projects. This year\u2019s IFAT \u2013 taking place May 4 \u2013 7, 2026, in Munich \u2013 offers interested parties the perfect opportunity to speak with the institute\u2019s experts and learn more about potential applications. The Fraunhofer booth is located in Hall B2, Booth 115.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Microorganisms and microalgae can be used to recover valuable metals from electronic waste \u2013 in an environmentally friendly, selective manner with potential for industrial application. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB demonstrated this in a study. At IFAT 2026, the leading trade fair for environmental technologies in Munich, IGB will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":176797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"Fraunhofer IGB Institute researchers demonstrated how biological applications work on recycling of electronic raw materials","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572,17143],"tags":[10416,24384,10477,11615,10453],"supplier":[649],"class_list":["post-176795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bio-based","category-recycling","tag-circulareconomy","tag-electronicwaste","tag-microalgae","tag-microorganisms","tag-recycling","supplier-fraunhofer-institut-fuer-grenzflaechen-und-bioverfahrenstechnik-igb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176795"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176807,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176795\/revisions\/176807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176795"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=176795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}