BioGold nuggets from a local waste stream
Biological gold recycling: BRAIN Biotech AG collaborates with PX Group on the PX Urban Mining Initiative
BRAIN Biotech AG and the PX Group, expert in the refining of precious metals from various segregated flows, are pleased to announce their collaboration within the framework of the PX Urban Mining Initiative. The extension of the partnership in this initiative stems from the successfully established collaboration between the two companies, which focused on developing a proof of concept for the biological recovery of gold from e-waste and other gold-containing side streams.
The first gold nuggets (BioGold™) produced from municipal waste as early as 2024.
Copyright: PX Group
The BioXtractor is a container-based mobile pilot plant originally developed by BRAIN Biotech for the biological extraction of metals. The new version BioXtractor V2 was financed by PX Group and is now jointly owned by BRAIN Biotech and PX Group. The container is located at the PX Group’s site in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, where the gold-containing side streams are gathered and processed. The partners aim to test its performance in a production environment and have refined the BioXtractor plant to the point where the first gold nuggets (BioGold™) were successfully produced from urban waste in 2024.
Dr. Esther Gabor, Head of Microbial Strain development at BRAIN Biotech: “We are very excited about the achievements of the last years. PX Group believed in our technology from day one. Now, that we have successfully scaled up the process to the cubicmeter-scale, we are looking to extend the technology to additional side streams.”
Dr. Alexandra Levesque, Head of Chemical R&D at PX Group: “The BioXtractor perfectly fits in our PX Urban Mining initiative and closes a loop in getting access to BioGoldTM. Our goal is to integrate the biological extraction process as a key component alongside other technologies to enable the recycling of all materials in e-waste, including copper, plastics, and other metals. The collaboration with BRAIN Biotech has been highly successful, and we look forward to continuing our joint efforts on this important initiative in the future”.
The expanded collaboration between BRAIN Biotech and PX Group is a key part of the PX Urban Mining Initiative, an industry and academic network focused on developing and implementing disruptive, complementary technologies to provide the market with traceable and responsibly sourced urban-mined metals.
BRAIN Biotech is contributing its proprietary bioleaching technology as the core technology for recovering of BioGoldTM. The PX Urban Mining Initiative is open to additional partners who wish to contribute complementary technologies, drive a proximity approach and induce a change of culture in the industry.
More recycled gold recovery through biological process
Approximately 4000 tons of gold are consumed worldwide each year. Approximately 67% of this gold is still extracted from primary ores. With declining ore grades and rising exploration costs, as well as negative environmental impacts, this approach is increasingly being questioned and is economically vulnerable.
Most existing e-waste recycling processes are under environmental scrutiny because they rely on energy-intensive smelting processes that emit large amounts of greenhouse gases. With rising energy and CO2 costs, smelting for recycling is not a viable long-term option for the future. For this reason, BRAIN Biotech developed the microbial bioleaching process for the recovery of precious metals at its Zwingenberg site to bring it to pilot scale together with an industrial partner.
The BioXtractor was intentionally designed and constructed as a mobile unit, allowing the biological extraction process to be tested directly at potential application sites and integrated into existing process chains. Its installation at PX Group's industrial site in Switzerland now serves as the foundation for validating and further developing the process at a pilot scale.
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