The EU Raw Materials Initiative (RMI) was adopted in 2008, and represents 41 metals and minerals con-sidered to be of importance to future markets, and of limited supply. We are interested in the development of novel iono- and solvometallurgical leaching technologies for the recovery and separation of precious metals from industrial waste streams within two European projects.
PLATIRUS: PLATInum group metals Recovery Using Secondary raw materials
The recycling of precious group metals (PGMs; palladium, platinum and rhodium) from spent autocatalysts is of great interest today because of their high prices as well as of their increasing demand in technology. In 2014, large amounts (41%) of worldwide PGM resources are used in Europe’s car industry with a recovery of just 15%. Nowadays, spent autocatalysts are recycled and reused relying on hydro- and pyrometallurgical methods under harsh conditions.
The PLATIRUS (PLATinum group metals Recovery Using Secondary raw materials) project is an international collaboration for the development of a cost-efficient and miniaturized recovery process of PGMs funded by the EU in the frame of H2020. Key targets of the PLATIRUS project build on new, green and environmentally friendly developments in iono- and solvometallurgical leaching, separation and recovery, resulting in a novel route to PGM recycling with higher yields, lower energy consumption and improved environmental impact while avoiding toxic or dangerous reagents such as aqua regia or cyanides.
Research plan and consortium members of PLATIRUS, a project funded by the European Commission. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program under Grant Agreement n° 730224
More Information: https://www.platirus.eu/
Representing publications:
Lanaridi et al. Towards the Recovery of Platinum Group Metals from a Spent Automotive Catalyst with Supported Ionic Liquid Phases, ACS Sus. Chem. Eng. 2020, in press.
CoLaBATS: New Battery Recycling Technology Demonstration
In the FP7 project “CoLaBATS” we focused on the develop of new battery recycling processes for the recovery of cobalt, lanthanum and other materials from Li-ion and NiMH waste batteries, aiming to improve recycling efficiencies and recovered metal purity compared to existing recycling routes. These batteries are found in everyday consumer products such as mobile phones and laptops, industrial equipment, and are important for the developing electric vehicle market.
The CoLaBATS technology has been designed to provide a multi-stage process capable of extracting key high value individual metals suitable for further refining based on the use of deep eutectic solvents (DES) and task specific ionic liquids (TSILs). The pilot plant operated at C-Tech Innovation has processed over 10 kg of both Li-ion and NiMH black mass, the equivalent of approximately 50 kg of battery waste.
More information: www.colabats.eu