• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Friday, August 22, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Chemistry

Major environmental benefits recycling gold with biodiesel

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
March 22, 2024
in Chemistry
Reading Time: 5 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have developed an environmentally friendly method for recycling and purifying metals. Using gold earrings from a pawnshop in Gothenburg and biodiesel from the nearest filling station, the discovery could change an industry that is currently dependent on large amounts of fossil oil.
“Pure metals have a number of uses in a modern society, not least for the development of green technologies. Our research shows how the metal industry can accelerate the transition from fossil to bio-based solvents,” says Mark Foreman, Associate Professor of Chemistry at Chalmers.

Mark Foreman

Credit: Chalmers

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have developed an environmentally friendly method for recycling and purifying metals. Using gold earrings from a pawnshop in Gothenburg and biodiesel from the nearest filling station, the discovery could change an industry that is currently dependent on large amounts of fossil oil.
“Pure metals have a number of uses in a modern society, not least for the development of green technologies. Our research shows how the metal industry can accelerate the transition from fossil to bio-based solvents,” says Mark Foreman, Associate Professor of Chemistry at Chalmers.

Gold is not only a precious metal that is a symbol of wealth in jewellery and gold bars. A regular smartphone contains slightly more than 0.03 grams of gold, and the metal is found in most of the everyday electronics we have around us. It is also important in components for the aerospace industry. For many applications, gold is mixed with other metals, which then need to be removed when the valuable gold sheet is to be recycled. In this process, organic solvents, such as fossil diesel, are used.

“Even if the diesel used in the production and recycling of metals is not incinerated, there are many good reasons to switch to fossil-free alternatives. For example, in the production of oil, methane, which is a worse greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, often leaks into the atmosphere. A lot of crude oil also contains toxic aromatic hydrocarbons, which damage the nervous system and are therefore dangerous for humans and animals to breathe in,” says Mark Foreman.

The gold scrap is completely clean using biofuel

Together with his research colleagues at Chalmers, Mark Foreman has found a way to use biodiesel instead of fossil diesel, which can be produced from residual products from the forest and pulp industry, and which is sold commercially as fuel under the brand name HVO100. Biodiesel contains virtually no aromatic hydrocarbons at all.

In the researchers’ method, gold scrap − usually in the form of small earrings that Mark Foreman buys at his local pawn shop − is dissolved in a mixture of hydrochloric acid and nitric acid (aqua regia). The gold found in jewellery is an alloy with other metals, including silver, and this leads to the silver depositing in solid form as silver chloride. In just two more steps, pure gold is then extracted from the solution. Firstly, HVO100 and the chemical malonamide are added, and secondly the entire mixture is shaken with ordinary salt water. The method used by the Chalmers researchers is even more ‘green’, since the malanomide was made from renewable biomass, which replaces more toxic and carcinogenic chemicals that are traditionally used to purify gold scrap.

“Our method is an environmentally friendly way of extracting pure gold from a mixture of many metals. Similar studies have been carried out in the past but have not achieved such a high purity of gold. The combination of biodiesel and malanomide is also special because it replaces both fossil diesel and other problematic chemicals. HVO100 is also very clean and works great in a laboratory, you don’t need to make a special order, you just have to go to the nearest station and refill your canister,” says Mark Foreman.

A method to purify many metals

Normally, when metals are mined or recycled, large amounts of fossil solvents are needed, but this doesn’t have to be the case, and the method developed by Chalmers researchers can be used for more metals than just gold. An important example is copper, a metal that is very common as a conductor in electronic components. In 2022 alone, more than 26 million tonnes of copper was used in the world, and according to the analysis company GlobalData, there are more than 695 active copper mines globally. About 75 percent of the world’s copper mines use fossil solvents to purify the metal, and depending on the size, a mine needs up to 1,000 tonnes of solvent to purify the copper mined there. Solvents that could be replaced by biodiesel.

The same method can be used to purify and recycle many other socially important metals, such as platinum, which is used in catalysts; nickel and cobalt in batteries; uranium and plutonium for the nuclear industry; and rare earth elements. The latter are a prerequisite for the rapid development of everyday electronics such as smartphones and tablets, and are important for modern green technology, such as in wind turbines and electric vehicles.

“Our study is also the first to show that the method we have developed is general and can be applied to a variety of metals. So far, I have not found a single metal that cannot be purified with environmentally friendly biodiesel instead of fossil solvents. The metal industry is conservative, but here we can show a simple and effective method to achieve a green shift for the industry,” says Mark Foreman, who will now continue to develop and refine his method for being able to recycle household batteries.

The scientific article Sustainable solvent extraction of gold and other metals with biomass chemicals has been published in the journal RSC Sustainability. The authors of the study are Mark Foreman, Richard Johansson, Gloria Mariotti, Ingmar Persson, Behabitu Tebikachewa and Mikhail Tyumentsev. The researchers are active at Chalmers University of Technology and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SLU.

 

For more information, please contact:

Mark Foreman, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, +46 760 62 24 80, [email protected]

Mark Foreman speaks English and is available for live and pre-recorded interviews. At Chalmers, we have podcasting studios and film equipment on site and can assist requests for TV, radio or podcast interviews.

 

NOTE TO THE EDITOR:

Images provided in Chalmers University of Technology press releases are, unless specified otherwise, free for download and publication as long as credit is given to the University and the individual creator. Cropping and rescaling of the images is permitted when required for adaptation to the publication’s format, but modifications that would influence the message and content of the original are not. The material is primarily intended for journalistic and informative use, to assist in communication and coverage of Chalmers’ research and education. Commercial usage, for example the marketing of goods and services, is not permitted. 

We kindly request credit to be given in the following format where possible:

Collage: Chalmers | Wikimedia Commons
Licence: Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Portait of Mark Foreman: Chalmers



Journal

RSC Sustainability

DOI

10.1039/D3SU00078H

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Sustainable solvent extraction of gold and other metals with biomass chemicals

Article Publication Date

9-Jan-2024

COI Statement

There are no conflicts of interest to declare.

Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

blank

New Study Reveals Hidden Turbulence in Polymer Fluids

August 22, 2025
blank

Deep Learning Framework Unveils the Evolution of Nanoscience Characterization Techniques

August 22, 2025

Vibronic Coupling Fuels Symmetry Breaking in Quadrupolar Dyes

August 22, 2025

Scientists Unveil Breakthrough Technique for Large-Scale Metabolite Analysis in Biological Samples

August 22, 2025

POPULAR NEWS

  • blank

    Molecules in Focus: Capturing the Timeless Dance of Particles

    141 shares
    Share 56 Tweet 35
  • New Drug Formulation Transforms Intravenous Treatments into Rapid Injections

    114 shares
    Share 46 Tweet 29
  • Neuropsychiatric Risks Linked to COVID-19 Revealed

    81 shares
    Share 32 Tweet 20
  • Modified DASH Diet Reduces Blood Sugar Levels in Adults with Type 2 Diabetes, Clinical Trial Finds

    60 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Estimating Lithium-Ion Battery Health with Advanced AI

New Study Reveals Hidden Turbulence in Polymer Fluids

Chinese Neurosurgical Journal Highlights Rare Central Nervous System Tumor Study

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.