Project Portugal 2030

Summary

A rapid technological development accompanied by an equally fast obsolescence of electronic devices feeds society’s need for readily available Technology-Critical Elements (TCEs). However, the unsustainable nature of TCEs mining and the low recycling rates of e-waste represent major socioeconomic and environmental hurdles that need to be conquered to achieve sustainable development, in line with the SDGs set by the United Nations (UN). The methodologies developed in this project aim to contribute to reducing the shortage of Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) (more specifically the rare-earths group, the platinum group elements, cobalt, gallium, germanium, indium, and niobium) and reduce the EU's dependence on imports, promoting resources recycling. This is critical as the EU encourages industries to make their industrial processes as sustainable as possible. This project aims to employ diverse sorbent materials for the selective recovery of TCEs from real samples, including raw materials, mining waste, industrial effluents, sludges, and e-waste. The use of real samples represents a step beyond what is currently available in the literature regarding the recovery of these elements from secondary raw materials. Various adsorbents (ferrite nanoparticles and zeolitic materials) will be tested in single or combined forms. Thus, the innovation of this project also lies in the use of adsorbents with diverse affinities and selectivities to selectively recover multiple CRMs from a wide range of real samples and develop new methods to integrate adsorbents. The viability of these combinations will be evaluated under realistic conditions (industry-relevant concentrations, short sorption times, and systems with multiple chemical elements). Furthermore, the sorption tests will evaluate the selectivity of the adsorbents to each CRM, filling a gap in the literature. The success of this methodology will be evaluated not just by its capacity for selective TCEs uptake but also by its economic viability and environmental sustainability. The sustainability of the technology will be taken into account throughout the entirety of the project. The project’s ultimate goal is to foster a circular economy by devising methods to extract and repurpose these elements from electronic waste, thus mitigating environmental pollution, and health risks associated with mining and e-waste disposal and reducing reliance on imports from other countries. At the end of the project, the consortium should be in a position to propose an efficient and low-cost solution for the selective recovery of those critical elements, ready to be commercialized.