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RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND ECO-EFFICIENCY - CRITICAL METALS, AN EXAMPLE

Alina Buţu

Abstract

Critical metals are those metals considered to be of fundamental importance for high-level industrial development. The definition of criticality derives, on the one hand, from the concentration of raw material sources in certain geographic areas, and on the other hand, the impossibility of replacing them with similar materials in the production processes. For a good management of raw material resources in general, and critical metals in particular, it is necessary to establish an eco-efficient strategy, to reinvent the sources of raw materials. The most recent European Commission reports on economy include legislative proposals on waste, aiming long-term measures to reduce landfilling on the one hand and to increase the recycling and reuse rate. Thus, innovative biotechnological methods for recovery of critical metals from mine waste (tailing, dumps, and ponds) or industrial process residues (e.g. waste waters, industrial waste) have been developed. Microbial leaching and microorganisms? involvement in the control of redox reaction and metal adsorption could enhance the recovery of various amounts of critical metals from diverse secondary materials. Another research direction is the so-called urban mining, which represents the recovery of critical metals from waste electronic and electric equipment. This paper presents success stories in the current context of bioeconomy development regarding proper resource management by applying eco-efficiency principles.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2018/4.2/s18.022

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