A substance used to treat cancer can extract rare-earth metals from electronic waste at 99% efficiency, reports Live Science. “Researchers have discovered a way to purify rare-earth minerals from discarded gadgets with a chemical compound normally used in medicine.” This will benefit the environment by eliminating the need for toxic leaching ponds to extract such metals:
Tetrathiometallates are transition metals that are conventionally used in medicine as treatments for copper metabolic disorders and cancer, the scientists said.
But by using them as a reagent in a redox (reduction-oxidation) reaction, they extracted samples of europium easily — including from post-consumer waste…The efficiency of europium removal was approximately 98.9%…The researchers have patented their technology and are setting up a company named REEcover to commercialize it.
In other news, “Researchers say they have found a way to heat and compress hair and wool and turn it into graphite, paving the way for Australia to become a key producer of lithium batteries for storing renewable energy,” reports the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Artificial intelligence recently discovered a new substance that could reduce lithium use in batteries. Microsoft said that the new “material, unknown to us and not present in nature” could potentially reduce lithium use in batteries by up to 70% and “have tremendous environmental, safety, and economic benefits.”
Researchers also discovered how to make lithium-fee sodium-ion batteries. That could reduce the need for lithium, by data centers and EV charger backup storage units.
Scientists are dumping 6,000 gallons of chemicals into the ocean near Martha’s Vineyard to fight climate change.
Scientists have discovered bacteria that break down “forever chemicals,” which stay in the human body for many years and can harm the immune system.
Scientists recently bred flame-resistant cotton. That’s important because fire deaths have risen by 43% in the United States since 2012, and fire deaths per 100,000 Americans have risen by 34%.
