Economic Feasibility Evaluation of Bioleaching-Based Tungsten Recycling of Semiconductor Industry Waste

This study evaluates the economic viability of bioleaching for tungsten recovery from semiconductor waste, comparing two separation methods: activated carbon adsorption–desorption and ammonium paratungstate precipitation. The economic analysis reveals slight differences, with the latter method incurring about 7% higher capital investment. Bioleaching, particularly due to the need for multiple reactors for extended processing times, dominates the costs, accounting for more than 85% of total expenses in both cases. Sensitivity analysis shows that increasing pulp density can improve economic returns, suggesting the benefit of adapting microbial strains to high-pulp-density environments for optimized metal leaching. Additionally, a reduction in the culturing period significantly decreases costs, highlighting the economic advantage of shorter processing durations. Developing efficient microbial strains for quicker processing is deemed crucial for the process's economic viability, offering insights for optimizing metal recovery in industrial applications, thereby impacting waste management and resource recovery practices in semiconductor and related industries.