image: Researcher at the CENIM-CSIC critical materials recycling pilot plant under construction in Madrid, Spain
Credit: César Hérnández (CSIC-Comunicación)
Led by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), a public agency of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the laboratory is established at the National Center for Metallurgical Research (CENIM).
“The rapid rate of consumption of certain metals could potentially lead to supply issues,” states Félix Antonio López, team leader of the RC-Metal Project and head researcher of the TECNOECO group at CENIM-CSIC.
“The energy transition demands high consumption of critical raw material resources, and, at the same time, Europe generates 2 million tons of electrical and electronic equipment waste per year,” reasons López, “which equates to 16.2 kg per person, the highest rate globally”.
Wasted debris filled with highly valuable metals that must be recovered in order to achieve United Nations global Sustainable Development Goals. The Spanish researcher points out that society's dependence on these rare-earth minerals will only increase in the near future. “Copper is an essential metal in the electrification and decarbonization of the economy — as it is in mobility, from electric vehicle batteries to solar photovoltaics”, argues López.
The RC-Metals Project will use a wide range of methods to recollect materials from all kind of e-waste and manufacture high-value alloys through molten bath melting processes (ISASMELT-GLENCOR).
The recovery of critical metals is a key European target
The main objective of this new lab facility is to advance the scientific and technological knowledge in order to reduce the accumulation of WEEE waste and the need to import key-raw materials. This second directive is promoted by the European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act for the support of the future of the EU supply chains. A strategic plan, approved in September 2020 by the European Commission, with the focus on 2030-2050 span.
López notes that the “ultimate importance of this European plan, focused on the availability of resources and acknowledgment of lack of good affordable substitutes, lies in the significant increase in demand for these critical minerals in the coming years”. A tendency outlined in the special report on geopolitics and energy transition by the International Renewable Energy Agency, explains the scientist.
The RC-Metals Project’s infrastructure development is financed by the Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition, CSIC and Atlantic Copper company. Additionally, thanks to partnership and collaboration agreements, Albufera Energy Storage, Colorobbia, Tatuine, Clemente Román, S.L., Técnicas Reunidas, the University of Zaragoza and the Circe Foundation also participate in this enterprise.
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