Slush Science Pitching Finals 2017: Anand Tatikonda
summary
E‑waste totals 125 million tons by 2020 worth about 75 billion dollars but only 15% is recycled. Proposal: shred electronics to <1% metal feed, encapsulate particles and acid‑producing bacteria inside microfluidic droplet microreactors that confine spent acids. Claimed outcomes: bioleaching efficiency rises to 90–95% metal recovery and process time drops from years to few hours. Bioleaching itself is established, but the microreactor method is unproven at scale and still requires treatment of acidic byproducts.
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