Copper from Waste Printed Circuit Boards Was Effectively Bioleached Using Newly Isolated Microorganisms and Subsequently Recovered by Microbial Fuel Cell

Abstract

Two newly isolated bacterial strains were isolated from activated sludge and identified as Coniochaeta fodinicola (C. fodinicola) and Talaromyces barcinensis (T. barcinensis) by 16S rDNA. C. fodinicola and T. barcinensis were used to bioleach the copper from the waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) powder, which was obtained by crushing and sorting the printed circuit board substrate after removing components. Results showed that the minimum and maximum Cu2+ leaching rates for C. fodinicola leaching were 3.9% and 89.2%, respectively. The minimum and maximum Cu2+ leaching rates for T. barcinensis leaching were 20.6% and 89.0%, respectively. The bioleaching solution was used as the cathode liquid of a dual chamber microbial fuel cell (MFC), and an X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern displayed that the Cu2+ in the bioleaching solution was reduced to copper using biological electricity generation.