Study Shows Vaporizing E-Waste Makes it Easy to Recover Precious Metals at 13-Times Lower Costs

– credit Alexandre Debiève

By instantaneously heating electronics to 3,000°C via an electrical current, scientists have found a way to extract decent grades of precious metals without creating hazardous waste.

According to their analysis, relying on e-waste for a precious metals supply could be 13-times cheaper than mining them from the ground. However, previous methods have involved throwing this or that broken gizmo into a furnace powered by copious amounts of energy while also releasing toxic substances into air.

By contrast, “flash joule heating,” a way of using electrical currents to vaporizing the valuable metals from the materials that hold electronics together is between 80 and 500-times more energy efficient.

One 2008 study calculated that one ton of mobile phones without batteries contains about 130kg of copper, 3.5kg of silver, 340 grams of gold, and 140 grams of palladium.

Those totals, if assayed as part of a drilling survey at a mine, would be considered world class results in the 99th percentile of grades.

Most open pit mining operations will run at a rate of between 0.5 and 1.8 grams per-ton gold and 100 to 180 grams per-ton silver. Some 40 million tons of e-waste is produced annually, so some simple mathematics reveals the potential economy to be found in harvesting e-waste for metals—a process termed “urban mining” by scientists.

Scientists at Rice University shredded a printed circuit board for their experiments, and mixed it with carbon black as a conductive additive. Once in the flash joule chamber, the current applied is so high that the precious metals, like rhodium, copper, and gold, turn briefly to vapor, while the carbon-based components like the plastic, are carbonized. This same process has been used to turn plastic into diamonds.

Mining companies for base and precious metals use a variety of patented recovery processes to separate gold, zinc, or nickel from the ore body.

Just like in mining, additives enhanced the recovery percentage of the metals from their vaporized form, including halides or fluorine-based substances. These brought the recovery of rhodium up to greater than 80%, and palladium to 70%. Bleach and other chlorine-based compounds brought the silver recovery rate up to greater than 80% as well.With the prices of these metals skyrocketing of late, new and cheaper supplies will be crucial to ensure important industries remain intact and competitive. Study Shows Vaporizing E-Waste Makes it Easy to Recover Precious Metals at 13-Times Lower Costs

Read More........ → February 16, 2026

World's richest 10% caused two thirds of global warming: study

The world's wealthiest 10 percent of individuals are responsible for two thirds of global warming since 1990, researchers said on Wednesday.

How the rich consume and invest has substantially increased the risk of deadly heatwaves and drought, they reported in the first study to quantify the impact of concentrated private wealth on extreme climate events.

"We link the carbon footprints of the wealthiest individuals directly to real-world climate impacts," lead author Sarah Schoengart, a scientist at ETH Zurich, told AFP.

"It's a shift from carbon accounting toward climate accountability."

Compared to the global average, for example, the richest one percent contributed 26 times more to once-a-century heatwaves, and 17 times more to droughts in the Amazon, according to the findings, published in Nature Climate Change.

Emissions from the wealthiest 10 percent in China and the United States which together account for nearly half of global carbon pollution each led to a two-to-threefold rise in heat extremes.

Burning fossil fuels and deforestation have heated Earth's average surface by 1.3 degrees Celsius, mostly during the last 30 years.

Schoengart and colleagues combined economic data and climate simulations to trace emissions from different global income groups and assess their impact on specific types of climate-enhance extreme weather.

The researchers also emphasised the role of emissions embedded in financial investment rather than just lifestyle and personal consumption.

"Climate action that doesn't address the outsized responsibilities of the wealthiest members of society risk missing one of the most powerful levers we have to reduce future harm," said senior author Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, head of the Integrated Climate Impacts Research Group at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis near Vienna.

- Billionaires tax -

Owners of capital, he noted, could be held accountable for climate impacts through progressive taxes on wealth and carbon-intensive investments.

Earlier research has shown that taxing asset-related emissions is more equitable than broad carbon taxes, which tend to burden those on lower incomes.

Recent initiatives to increase taxes on the super-rich and multinationals have mostly stalled, especially since Donald Trump regained the White House.

Last year, Brazil -- as host of the G20 -- pushed for a two-percent tax on the net worth of individuals with more than $1 billion in assets.

Although G20 leaders agreed to "engage cooperatively to ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed," there has been no follow-up to date.

In 2021, nearly 140 countries agreed on work toward a global corporate tax for multinational companies, with nearly half endorsing a minimum rate of 15 percent, but those talks have stalled as well.

Almost a third of the world's billionaires are from the United States more than China, India and Germany combined, according to Forbes magazine.

According to anti-poverty NGO Oxfam, the richest 1 percent have accumulated $42 trillion in new wealth over the past decade.

It says the richest one percent have more wealth than the lowest 95 percent combined.

By Marlowe Hood World's richest 10% caused two thirds of global warming: study

Read More........ → June 05, 2025

Global trade and tariff uncertainties​ can become catalyst for reforms in India: HSBC Research

New Delhi, (IANS): Global trade and tariff uncertainties could become a catalyst for reforms in India over the medium term and for growth results, the reforms must run deep, an HSBC Research report said on Tuesday.

Potential US tariffs may have already become a catalyst for reforms like lowering import tariffs, opening up to regional FDI, fast-tracking trade deals, and making the Indian rupee more flexible.

"And India does not have to look too far for models to emulate. Its success in services exports has demonstrated the power of moving up the value chain, from basic (call centre services) to high-tech (professional services)," said the report.

India's goods trade deficit narrowed sharply in February to $14.1 billion, from $23 billion in January.

“The trade deficit tends to narrow in February but this time, it narrowed rather sharply to the lowest in more than three years,” the report mentioned.

India's goods trade deficit narrowed to $14 billion and the services trade surplus rose to $18.5 billion, putting the overall trade balance in a rare surplus zone in February.

A normalisation in imports across the board - oil, gold, and core - led to the narrowing of the goods trade deficit, the report mentioned.

Global trade and tariff uncertainty is likely to lower India's GDP growth in the short term, but could become a catalyst for reforms over the medium term; for growth results, however, reforms must run deep.

Within exports, core goods were softer, led more by weaker investment goods exports than consumer goods exports.

"This is in line with our expectation that globally, FDI and investment may be challenged in 2025, due to global uncertainty," the HSBC report noted.

Within imports, all key categories softened - oil, gold and core. Falling global oil prices lowered the oil import bill by $1.5 billion, while gold imports remained modest after a steep rise in Q4 2024.The services trade surplus remained robust at $18.5 billion. On seasonally adjusted sequential terms, services exports have been rising by an average 3 per cent for three months. Global trade and tariff uncertainties​ can become catalyst for reforms in India: HSBC Research | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com

Read More........ → March 25, 2025