本集内容

Going for gold in e-waste 电子垃圾变黄金

学习要点

有关 “chemical processes（化学过程）” 的词汇

边看边答

What does the Royal Mint do?

文字稿

How do you turn electronic waste like this into gold?

如何把这样的电子垃圾变成黄金？

The Royal Mint, whose job it is to make coins for the UK, has found a way to do exactly that. First, they take the electronic components from laptops and phones and place them in a secret solution.

英国皇家铸币厂负责为英国铸造硬币，他们找到了一种方法可以 “点石成金”。首先，要从笔记本电脑和手机中取出电子零部件，放入一种神秘溶液中。

The chemicals extract what’s inside and produce this brown powder. It’s then heated for 30 minutes at more than 1,000 degrees Celsius. The end result is pure gold!

这种化学物质会提取里面的东西，从而产生这种棕色粉末。然后，在超过1000摄氏度的温度下加热30分钟。最终结果是纯金！

Matthew James, Head of R&D, The Royal Mint
We’re hoping to recover all of the metals on the board. Primarily gold to start with, but we are looking at copper, nickel, tin, particularly tin, and some silver.

马修·詹姆斯       英国皇家铸币厂研发负责人
“我们希望能收回电路板上的所有金属。一开始主要是黄金，但我们也收铜、镍、锡，尤其是锡，还有些银。”

More than 50 million tonnes of e-waste, that’s waste from old electronics products, is produced worldwide each year. But only 20% is recycled.

全世界每年产生5000多万吨电子垃圾，电子垃圾是来自废旧电子产品的垃圾。但只有20%被回收利用。

Experts believe that as much as 7% of the world’s gold may be contained in e-waste. And by extracting it, that gold can be used for coins like these.

专家认为，电子垃圾中可能含有多达世界上7%的黄金。提取出的黄金可以用来铸造这样的硬币。

词汇

components 零部件

extract 提取

heated 被加热

end result 最终结果

recover 收回，追回

问题答案

The Royal Mint makes coins for the UK.