Advances in bioleaching as a sustainable method for metal recovery from e-waste: A review

Electronic waste (e-waste) accumulation on earth is a serious environmental challenge. The need for heavy metal recovery, together with the profitability of precious and base metals, are strong incentives for researchers to find a sustainable method for metal recovery from e-waste. The scientific community is trying to improve the efficiency of metal recovery from e-wastes using bioleaching, a more sustainable method in comparison to traditional methods. In this review, available methods and the kinetic models that describe the bioleaching processes, and also their limitations, are reviewed. In addition, the application of new approaches to understand how the contribution of microorganisms and their genetic modification can affect the processes, are reviewed.