Metal Recovery from Wastes: A Review of Recent Advances in the Use of Bioelectrochemical Systems

The rapid technological advancements and the shift towards clean energy have significantly increased the demand for metals, leading to an increasing metal pollution problem. This review explores recent advances in bioelectrochemical systems (BES) for metal recovery from waste, especially Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) and Electrical, Electronic Wastes (EEW) and waste from smelters, highlighting their potential as a sustainable and economically viable alternative to traditional methods. This study addresses the applications and limitations of current BES recovery techniques. BES, including microbial fuel cells (MFCs), microbial electrolytic cells (MECs), and Microbial Desalination Cells (MDCs), offer promising solutions by combining microbial processes with electrochemical reactions to recover valuable metals while reducing energy requirements. This review categorizes recent research into two main areas: pure BES applications and BES coupled with other technologies. Key findings include the efficiency of BES in recovering metals like copper, chromium, vanadium, iron, zinc, nickel, lead, silver, and gold and the potential for integrating BES with other systems to enhance performance. Despite significant progress in BES application for metal recovery, challenges such as high costs and slow kinetics remain, necessitating further research to optimize materials, configurations, and operational conditions. The work also includes an economic assessment and guidelines for BES development and upscale. This review underscores the critical role of BES in advancing sustainable metal recovery and mitigating the environmental impact of metal pollution.