| ▲ | pkilgore 2 hours ago | |
Not to be glib, but the second law of thermodynamics. You are attempting to filter out trace amounts valuable dopants and some small amounts of metals with value from, essentially, a pile of sand. This is not energetically or chemically easy. | ||
| ▲ | marcosdumay 2 hours ago | parent [-] | |
The second law of thermodynamics is very forgiving here. It's actually not the problem. Energy depends on the log of the concentration. The problem is with our technology; we don't know how to recycle things well. | ||