Funari Valerio, Toller Simone, Vitale Laura, Santos Rafael M, Gomes Helena I
Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR-CNR), Department of Earth System Sciences and Environmental Technologies, National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Bologna Research Area, 40129, Bologna, Italy.
Department of Marine Biotechnology, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (SZN), Via Ammiraglio F. Acton 55, 80133, Napoli, Italy.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 May;30(21):59128-59150. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-26790-z. Epub 2023 Apr 12.
Metals are essential in our daily lives and have a finite supply, being simultaneously contaminants of concern. The current carbon emissions and environmental impact of mining are untenable. We need to reclaim metals sustainably from secondary resources, like waste. Biotechnology can be applied in metal recovery from waste streams like fly ashes and bottom ashes of municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI). They represent substantial substance flows, with roughly 46 million tons of MSWI ashes produced annually globally, equivalent in elemental richness to low-grade ores for metal recovery. Next-generation methods for resource recovery, as in particular bioleaching, give the opportunity to recover critical materials and metals, appropriately purified for noble applications, in waste treatment chains inspired by circular economy thinking. In this critical review, we can identify three main lines of discussion: (1) MSWI material characterization and related environmental issues; (2) currently available processes for recycling and metal recovery; and (3) microbially assisted processes for potential recycling and metal recovery. Research trends are chiefly oriented to the potential exploitation of bioprocesses in the industry. Biotechnology for resource recovery shows increasing effectiveness especially downstream the production chains, i.e., in the waste management sector. Therefore, this critical discussion will help assessing the industrial potential of biotechnology for urban mining of municipal, post-combustion waste.
金属在我们的日常生活中至关重要，且供应有限，同时也是令人担忧的污染物。当前采矿活动的碳排放和环境影响是不可持续的。我们需要从诸如废物等二次资源中可持续地回收金属。生物技术可应用于从城市固体废物焚烧（MSWI）的飞灰和底灰等废物流中回收金属。它们代表着大量的物质流，全球每年产生约4600万吨MSWI灰，其元素丰富度与用于金属回收的低品位矿石相当。受循环经济思维启发的废物处理链中，诸如生物浸出等下一代资源回收方法为回收关键材料和金属提供了机会，这些材料和金属经过适当提纯可用于高端应用。在这篇批判性综述中，我们可以确定三个主要讨论方向：（1）MSWI材料特性及相关环境问题；（2）目前可用的回收和金属回收工艺；（3）微生物辅助的潜在回收和金属回收工艺。研究趋势主要导向生物工艺在工业中的潜在开发利用。资源回收生物技术显示出越来越高的有效性，尤其是在生产链的下游，即废物管理部门。因此，这次批判性讨论将有助于评估生物技术在城市采矿中处理城市燃烧后废物的工业潜力。
