Repurposed: Ground Circuit Board Waste Can Clean Up Toxic Metals

Posted by timothy on Thursday August 1, 2013 @07:51AM from the that-word-can't-help-looking-wrong dept.

ckwu writes "Researchers in Hong Kong have found a beneficial new use for the electronic waste from discarded cell phones, computers, and other gadgets. Ground up into a powder, printed circuit boards from these products could sponge up another type of pollution — toxic heavy metals in water. The researchers processed the nonmetallic fraction of waste circuit boards into a powder and found that it adsorbed metals like copper, lead, and zinc more efficiently than commercially available industrial adsorbents."

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good tech doing good work by kermidge · 2013-08-01 08:35 · Score: 4, Interesting

This is good tech stuff, for real-world use and valid "news for nerds, stuff that matters" - oops, we don't do that here anymore. It's one of the ways tech is supposed to work.
Somebody had a thought, "I wonder..." or "What if..." and tested it.
It worked; in fact, it worked very well. The need is not restricted to China, either.
What's not to like? Where's the applause?