The colors in the paints used on the paintings or on the walls were not always as easily produced and easily accessible from anywhere as they are now. So much so that some colors, such as purple or blue, were often preferred for less used and ‘precious’ details, as they were obtained from precious pigments that are hard to find.
One of the most prominent of these colors, which is the color of kings and religious people, was blue. This changed, thanks to a pigment now known as ‘Prussian blue’ and blue ceased to be a ‘royal colour’. The ‘Prussian blue’ pigment, which is the source of this revolutionary change in art, has now become the subject of an important development in the recycling of e-waste.
First, let’s take a look at what Prussian blue pigment is.
In order to obtain the blue color, ultramarine pigment obtained from grinding lapis lazuli, a metamorphic rock, also known as lapis lazuli, was used for many years. But this pigment was a valuable pigment found in certain regions. Naturally, as we mentioned above, blue was a color that was rarely used.
But when the calendars were showing the year 1704, a discovery that happened by chance changed the situation completely, bringing blue to the art world. Pigment producer Jacob Diesbach realized that he was running out of potassium while working on a red color and asked his friend, German doctor Johann Conrad Dippel, for whom he used his laboratory, for potassium.
Dippel gave Diesbach potassium, but it was potassium contaminated with animal fat from which animal blood was distilled. Diesbach, who unconsciously used potassium in his mixture, got a pale tone instead of the vibrant red he wanted to achieve, and then saw that the color started to change when he tried to concentrate it. The color eventually turned blue. Thus, the ‘Prussian blue’ pigment, the first synthetic blue color in history, was formed.
Gold can be extracted from e-waste such as phones with Prussian blue pigment
E-waste is a huge problem considering the ever-increasing use of electronic devices. Many ‘developed’ countries send this waste to African countries, turning the continent into a gigantic and toxic e-waste dump.
Although the worst example of this situation is African countries, it is possible to come across similar scenes all over the world and this problem poisons us all. Scientists are also looking for ways to recycle e-waste with affordable and high performance.
One of the studies conducted in this direction is a study published in the past. Moreover, the obtained data is quite remarkable.
According to the study, by using Prussian blue pigment, it will be possible to extract gold and similar precious metals from e-waste both easily and quite efficiently compared to current methods.
The authors of the study state the importance of the situation: “The amount of gold contained in a ton of mobile phones is 300-400 grams, which is 10-80 times more than a ton of natural ore. The same is true for other elements. Therefore, the recovery of these valuable elements from e-waste is much more effective and efficient than collecting them from natural ore.”
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