Swiss scientists have figured out how to extract gold using... cheese
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Swiss scientists have come up with an unusual way to extract gold. Professor Raffaele Mezzenga from the research university ETH Zurich and his team have conducted a successful experiment to extract the precious metal from electronic waste.
The researchers reportedly used denatured whey proteins (the liquid part of cheese that separates from the curd) to create a kind of sponge to extract gold ions from electronic waste. This substance was placed in a solution with gold ions. Particles of the precious metal attached to the protein fibers.
The researchers then heated the sponge. This turned the gold ions into flakes. The scientists melted them into a gold bar.
In such a way, from 20 computer motherboards, the scientists produced a mini-bar weighing about 450 milligrams. The bar was 91 percent gold (the rest was copper), which corresponds to 22 carats.
The results of the experiment were published in the Advanced Materials journal. The authors of the article noted that the above-mentioned method “opens the way to more sustainable recycling methods, which is important in light of the growing problem of recycling.” Raffaele Mezzenga himself also noted the environmental sustainability of the open method of extracting the precious metal.
It remains only to add that, according to experts’ calculations, the cost of recycling according to the method invented by Swiss scientists can be 50 times lower than the cost of the extracted gold: in other words, the process seems economically feasible. Especially in view of the growing demand for this precious metal. And not only in the financial and jewelry spheres: these days, gold is even used in the field of artificial intelligence! Read more about this in the article: Gold and artificial intelligence.
