Mechanisms of biological recovery of rare-earth elements from industrial and electronic wastes: A review

Increasing application of rare earth elements (REE) in electronics, renewable energy, biomedical devices, and industrial products has increased their demand globally. Enhanced production of industrial and electronic wastes has led the researchers to focus on the REE recovery from these alternative economic sources. Recent developments in bioprocess technology have created suitable avenues of REE recovery from waste materials. This review focuses on secondary sources of REE including industrial wastes, mine wastes, and electronic wastes. Detailed mechanisms of REE biorecovery from waste mineral sources have been discussed elaborately. The influence of physico-chemical operational parameters on the efficiency of REE biorecovery from source materials has also been thoroughly elaborated. Analyses in terms of economic perspectives indicate that REE biorecovery from waste materials may be a cost-effective approach. This review directs future research towards the development of enhanced REE biorecovery from wastes on a large commercial scale.