On Fri, May 23, 2008 at 10:27 PM, Akarsh Simha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> And the depleted(!) acids.... how is it disposed? > > I don't know how they are disposed. Possibly they are reused till they > are useless and then neutralized with alkali and thrown away, in which > case it should be safe. However, in case you do plan to use this > service, you should probably find out how they are disposing the acid > and ensure that it is environment friendly. >
The problem is that the gold recovered by such methods is simply not enough to finance waste treatment. Otherwise the corporates would've entered it by now. So, my guess is that the wastes are just dumped into the sewers! Even if the acids are neutralized with alkalies, the resultant solution will still have very very high dissolved solids content that it will be beyond environmentally safe limits. Not to mention the nickel, cadmium etc that are found in electronic circuits and to dissolve which the acid was originally used. Really, these are very very 'inconvenient truths' the tech industry would like to wish away :-) Request you all to watch that movie. Its been on TV for some weeks now. regds -- We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children. - Chief Seattle _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe <password> <address>" in the subject or body of the message. http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/mailman/listinfo/ilugc
