Circular economy: ROMEO turns old computers and cell phones into gold mines

A team of ENEA researchers has developed ROMEO, the first pilot plant in Italy for the recovery of precious materials from old computers and cell phones through a "room temperature" process and without pretreatment of the electronic boards.

ROMEO (Recovery Of MEtals by hydrOmetallurgy) has a 95% yield of gold, silver, platinum, palladium, copper, tin and lead from electrical and electronic equipment waste (WEEE). Located north of Rome, at the Casaccia Research Center, the pilot plant uses an ENEA patented hydrometallurgical process which allows to drastically cut energy costs as compared to high temperature pyrometallurgical techniques.

The electronic boards are treated without undergoing a shredding process, while the gaseous emissions are treated and transformed into reagents to be reused in the process, thus minimizing environmental impact and waste production. It is also characterized by modularity and flexibility that allow to treat even small quantities of waste and choose the degree of purity of the metal recovered according to market needs.

"WEEE is a source of raw materials that could free our country and Europe from imports from China, Africa and South America", explained Danilo Fontana, ENEA researcher at the Laboratory of Technologies for Reuse, Recycling, Recovery and Valorisation of Waste and Materials.

According to ENEA estimates, 129 kg of copper, 43 kg of tin, 15 kg of lead, 0.35 kg of silver and 0.24 kg of gold [1], can be obtained from the treatment of 1 ton of electronic boards, for a total value of over 10 thousand euro (at current market price).

“ With ROMEO we want to promote the creation of a complete national supply chain for the recovery of precious metals from WEEE. Unfortunately, so far in Italy the national recycling sector has stopped at the initial treatment - that is, the least profitable process – leaving to foreign operators, in particular from Northern Europe, the task of recovering the 'noble' part of  waste ", Fontana said.

Starting from 2019, the directive 2012/19 / EU, which regulates the sector of electrical and electronic waste, requires the achievement of a 65% WEE waste collection target (it was 45% in the three-year period 2016-2018); in addition to electronic boards, this percentage includes credit cards with chips, bicycles with pedal assistance, multiple electrical outlets and all types of extensions, electric curtains and closures, stairlifts for the disabled and automation equipment for gates.

"Our goal is to transfer this technology to industry so that, through the introduction of eco-innovative processes, we can complete the waste treatment cycle in order to keep strategic raw materials such as gold, rare earths, magnesium and cobalt on the territory, with all the occupational, economic, and social benefits it entails.

Our further goals are testing new technological processes for the extraction of materials with high added value from different types of waste, such as permanent magnets, lithium batteries at the end of their life, industrial by-products, ash and exhausted catalysts ", Fontana concluded.

Last year in Italy, WEEE waste collection increased by 10% as compared to 2018, for a total of over 343 thousand tons (data from the WEEE Coordination Center), corresponding to approximately 43% of WEEE waste. But this entails that approximately 57% of WEEE waste is still disposed of in ways (such as landfill or export abroad) that are not environmentally friendly and don’t ensure an effective and strategic management of resources.

[1] Good quality auriferous minerals contain approximately 0.005-0.010 kg / ton of gold.