The market
The United States discarded approximately three billion electronic devices over the past decade. The volume has increased to 450 million units of e-waste annually. American consumers dispose of more than 110,000 computers every day. E-waste is the fastest-growing category of municipal solid waste, ending up in landfills or incinerators. Unfortunately, on average, less than 10% of this waste is recycled. Global computer sales in 2012 reached 426 million units. The production of electronic equipment consumes more energy, metals, and chemicals than any other product in a modern home.
Unlike most household appliances such as refrigerators and televisions, the majority of the energy used in electronic devices is consumed during manufacturing (81%) rather than during operation (19%). Electronic waste has, on average, a higher concentration of metals than any ore. One metric ton of computer waste contains more gold than 17 tons of ore. One ton of used cell phones, good for 6,000 handsets, contains 3.5 kg of silver, 340 grams of gold, 140 grams of palladium, and 130 kg of copper. Japanese consumers have already discarded over one billion cell phones, and with them, 3,500 tons of silver. Each EU citizen leaves behind 40 kg of electronic waste per year.
While some are concerned about heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, and flame retardants, which pose a real danger to public health, others are evaluating the energy embedded in the processed materials and the possibility of recycling them. The electronic scrap market is expected to triple by 2015, reaching $14.7 billion. The price of discarded printed circuit boards reached a historic high of $5.36 per pound in January 2010, 50% higher than in the same month a year earlier. This value represents the estimated intrinsic value of the metal embedded in the board.
Innovation
Microbes have the ability to chelate. Chelation refers to the affinity of bacteria for a specific metal. For millions of years, microorganisms have played an active role in mobilizing metals from rocks, minerals, and soil. Living cells purify and process metals, making them available for the production of enzymes, vitamins, and genes. Living cells have the means to process metals. Even better, living cells can recognize and bind specific metals, and therefore, if electronic waste is crushed into sufficiently small particles and a medium is created that binds metals to the surface, pure metals can be obtained by recycling electronic waste without melting it.
Scientists like Professor Irving DeVoe of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, had been studying the bacteria that cause meningitis. Dr. DeVoe's data showed that the microbe was extremely efficient at acquiring iron, copper, and zinc, and he quickly realized that many life forms trap metals. With his colleagues, he designed porous glass beaters with a high affinity for 42 different metals, including chromium, cadmium, copper, and mercury. However, batch processing them proved too costly. The capital and operating expenses were too high to compete with the soaring price of gold on the market.
Henry Kolesinski and Robert Cooley are former researchers at Polaroid and Waters Associates, respectively. As film technology experts, they designed a simple machine that transforms the batch process using beads into a continuous extraction of metals from a thin plastic sheet. Their pioneering company, Prime Separations (USA), designed a small, low-capital-cost device that demonstrates its viability using shredded Japanese cell phones supplied by Dowa Mining. The energy cost is minimal, and unlike any other metal recovery system, the separation technique operates at ambient temperature and pressure. The primary energy source is the shredding of electronic waste. The main challenge is mass-producing the film. The development engineers have mastered the coating with chelating agents; the next step is designing a high-speed rotating system that can process tons of electronic waste per hour, instead of kilograms per day. The selective capture technique, as defined by the Prime Separations trademark, will evolve into machines that will take the form of newspaper presses.
The first cash flow
Prime Separations' first revenue stream comes from designing on-site metal recovery systems. Governments are eager to learn how to reduce the enormous stockpile of electronic waste and prevent toxic runoff. They are focused on implementing a management system where waste streams and costs are covered without continually increasing the burden on taxpayers. Consulting services, potential assessments, and revenue stream mapping, all while improving performance, generate the venture capital firm's initial revenue. While everyone knows that the potential value of a ton of computers is $15,000 from the metals they contain, the key to success lies in designing a network of on-site processing units based on multiple revenue streams that transform this costly and traumatic e-waste management into a cash-generating unit.
The opportunity
The long-term opportunity begins with installing separation units at each landfill or electronic waste repository. Just as EarthStone Inc. in New Mexico established its processing unit at the Albuquerque landfill site, Prime Separations can cluster its processing system around the same sites, generating additional revenue and further reducing the on-site workload. This extends the landfill's lifespan, reduces the risk of soil contamination, and minimizes the leaching of toxins into groundwater. Land costs in and around landfills are low, resources are delivered to the door with cash, and revenue from the processed metal is guaranteed.
The implementation of this innovation will soon make landfill sites usable. Although the flow of electronic waste will not decrease, landfill sites are so valuable that excavating them will soon be worthwhile thanks to on-site handling. Metals cannot be incinerated and must be disposed of because airborne metallic particles are highly toxic. Developing countries have the opportunity to manage all electronic waste and stimulate the creation of metal processing facilities like the one proposed by Prime Separations. South African mining companies have an exceptional opportunity to create more jobs and generate more value.
If we take into account the reduction in demand for steel and titanium through the introduction of silk geometry, and combine this with the recovery of 99.98% of pure metals, including toxic metals, then we can begin to see how the blue economy reduces costs and increases incomes, while creating jobs that are healthy and building social capital.
