Green Student U


Recycling Old Computers into Fuel

Every year millions of computers are dumped into landfills instead of being recycled.

But scientists in Romania and Turkey have discovered a way to remove toxic chemicals from old circuit boards and turn the scraps into fuel and other raw materials for consumer products.

How do they do it?

To remove the toxic flame-retardant additives in the plastic pieces of the circuit boards the scientists used a combination of catalysts (a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction), high temperatures and chemical filtration (the removal of dissolved compounds from water). This makes the pieces environmentally-safe and perfect to use for other products.


This process also recovers precious metals from the circuit boards, as well as valuable organic chemicals.

You can read the entire story here.

This is a great new discovery by the scientists, and if proven to work, it could drastically reduce the computer waste that takes up a lot of space in our landfills.

Plus, any other alternative energy methods are always welcomed during this fuel crisis!

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