Antimony was selectively leached from a lead-rich industrial process residue called ‘dross’, and recovered as an antimony oxide chloride (Sb4O5Cl2), which can be used as a component in flame retardants or as an anode material in aqueous chloride batteries. This work...
As countries strive to meet the Paris climate agreement goals, the demand for energy transition metals (incl. cobalt) is going to be turbo-charged the coming decades. As pointed out recently in the International Energy Agency’s iconic report “The Role of Critical...
On April 27 more than 220 people participated in the on-line event “Can the recycling of mining waste become a new business?” Covering distinct case-studies, three experts – representing EC DG Environment, Boliden & Cronimet – shared their views on the matter of...
A team of SIM² researchers (SOLVOMET & SURF Groups) have succeeded in electrodepositing the rare-earth elements neodymium and dysprosium at ambient temperatures from organic electrolytes. The electrolytes consist of a redox-active rare-earth borohydride complex,...
“Rare-earth recycling needs market intervention” … that’s the title of the Nature Reviews Materials Comment article (Impact Factor = 75) by SOLVOMET/SIM² KU Leuven researchers Koen Binnemans and Peter Tom Jones. For this Comment piece they who worked together with...
SOLVOMET is KU Leuven’s Centre for Solvometallurgy. SOLVOMET’s mission is to support its industrial and RTD partners in the conceptual and practical development of more sustainable solvometallurgical separation processes and new mining chemicals, which are subsequently tested using state-of-the-art lab-scale and mini pilot-scale experimental facilities.