“Brick, Bread and Biscuit” – The new goldrush?

19SEP2024
A new book titled “Brick, Bread and Biscuit” presents outcomes from a two-year government-funded research project on the chemical recycling of precious metals from electronic waste for jewellery design in India.

It is a collaboration between University of Edinburgh School of Chemistry’s Head of School, Prof Jason Love and the University of Dundee’s Prof Sandra Wilson who is personal chair in Ecological Metal Design. "Bread, Brick, and Biscuit" describes the work carried out in a EPSRC-GCRF funded project with metallurgists, metalsmiths, and designers from the UK and India. The book will be launched at the Dundee Design Festival which runs from 23–29 September 2024 at the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc where you can see the work of more than 180 designers all under one roof in the UK’s only UNESCO City of Design, Dundee.  

Cover of Brick, Bread and Biscuit
Cover of Brick, Bread and Biscuit

The name Brick, Bread and Biscuit refers to the sizes of gold ingots in India – brick is 5 kg, bread is 1 kg and biscuit 100 g. It also comments on more local scale hydrometallurgical refining compared with industrial scale pyrometallurgy. 

Commenting on the upcoming book, Prof Jason Love said;

This project showed how chemists, metallurgists, makers, and designers can learn from each other and deliver new insight into this important challenge.

Professor Jason Love University of Edinburgh School of Chemistry, Head of School
Electrical waste before and after
Electrical waste before and after

E-waste is the fastest-growing solid waste stream and contains many valuable metals. This project, involving partners from the UK and India, sought to capitalise on new chemical recycling methods to provide metal solutions, powders, and foils from e-waste to designers and makers. 

The book contains stories of the journey of accessing gold from e-waste, the chemistry being developed to recover the precious metals, and how this endangered material can help revitalise Indian craft techniques such as meenakari, koftgari, and metal patination. 

Guiding this project has been a set of values that explore how we can work in harmony with nature, at a local level, to develop frugal ways of working with rare and precious metals. This ethical approach could guide the new gold rush, emphasising how we relate to nature and the wider society. 

Jeweller and metal researcher Sandra Wilson from the University of Dundee observes,

The hydrometallurgy metal recovery process is greatly exciting for designers and makers as it creates new opportunities in for example metal colouring and making new alloys with fresh aesthetic possibilities." 

Professor Sandra Wilson University of Dundee, Personal Chair in Ecological Metal Design

The book contributes towards advancing recycling precious metals from e-waste and achieving UN sustainable development goals  

Notes 

  1. The full book here Brick Bread and Biscuit.pdf
  2. This work is through a partnership between researchers at the EaStCHEM School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh (UK), DJCAD Dundee University (UK), National Institute of Design (India), and IIT BHU (India) 
  3. This research was funded by the EPSRC-GCRF grant number EP/T020504/1 

For questions on the chemistry of hydrometallurgy and precious metal recovery contact Prof Jason Love, jason.love@ed.ac.uk  

For questions on design and working with precious metals from e-waste, and for access to images contact Prof Sandra Wilson  s.z.wilson@dundee.ac.uk

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