Abstract:
Shortfall in the supply of metals critical for transition to the low carbon economy necessitates extraction from low-grade ores and wastes. This requires new flowsheet development where the operating parameters of each unit operation must be optimized. This approach is experiment intensive with a large gestation period. To accelerate flowsheet development for sustainable metal extraction, a conceptual framework of Metal Extraction Informatics (MEI) has been proposed. MEI combines some aspects of material informatics and multi-objective optimization. Three objective functions have been used: process efficiency, operating costs, and environmental impact. A case study of the leaching of copper from waste printed circuit boards has been modelled to illustrate the MEI framework.
