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CIRMET will lead to a new approach to hydrometallurgy, called “circular hydrometallurgy”, with a focus on the design of energy-efficient flowsheets or unit processes that consume a minimum amount of reagents and produce virtually no waste.
CIRMET has the ambitious goal to replace the traditional, linear hydrometallurgical flowsheets for extraction and refining of the “energy-transition” metals cobalt and nickel into a next-generation, circular flowsheet, which:
(1) consumes no chemicals other than (green) hydrogen, water and carbon dioxide (taking advantage of the unique chemical properties of carbon dioxide);
(2) uses the acid for the leaching process as a “catalyst” that is continually regenerated rather than consumed;
(3) reduces the net consumption of acids and bases to virtually zero through ingenious manipulations of chemical equilibria via solvent extraction;
(4) comprises a virtually zero discharge of solid and liquid waste streams. As such, CIRMET can drastically reduce the environmental footprint of hydrometallurgical processes.
● Our world is moving towards a climate-neutral economy. The global energy system is becoming less dependent on fossil fuels, and increasingly more so on metals. The demands for cobalt and nickel necessary for the production of batteries will be, respectively, 21 and 19 times higher in 2040 than they are now.
● Right now, the production and refining of these metals is not environmentally friendly. This is due to the fact that hydrometallurgical processes used in production are not energy-efficient, even when performed at ambient conditions. Moreover, they generate a lot of liquid and solid waste.
● CIRMET aims to design a low-energy-input, circular hydrometallurgical flowsheet. This novel flowsheet consumes no chemicals other than hydrogen gas, water, and carbon dioxide.
● To reach this goal, CIRMET will employ a technology called solvent extraction in an innovative way, so that acids are regenerated and no toxic or difficult-to-treat waste is produced.
● In order to create a circular hydrometallurgical flowsheet, CIRMET examines the metallurgical processes from a molecular level. Accurate thermodynamic models will be created to model the solvent extraction process.
● CIRMET will support the shift from the present linear, waste-generating hydrometallurgy to low-energy-input circular hydrometallurgy, which is required for the green transition.
Professor Binnemans is an inorganic chemist who is combining fundamental and applied research in the fields of metallurgical chemistry, solvometallurgy and hydrometallurgy.
He is head of the SOLVOMET group at the Department of Chemistry of KU Leuven (Belgium) and a key member of the KU Leuven Institute for Sustainable Metals and Minerals (SIM²). He has more than 30 years of experience working with rare earths and is recognised as a world-leading specialist in this field. He has published 600 papers in international journals. His work has been cited 36,900 times (h-index = 90) according to Web of Science. He has been awarded two ERC Advanced Grants (SOLCRIMET and CIRMET).
In 2017, Binnemans founded together with Peter Tom Jones, SOLVOMET Research and Innovation Centre for Circular Hydrometallurgy to support its industry partners in the conceptual and practical development of more sustainable (circular, low-energy input) hydrometallurgical (and solvometallurgical) processes, which are subsequently tested using state-of-the-art lab-scale and mini-pilot-scale experimental facilities.
Binnemans is the creator of the concept of circular hydrometallurgy and its 12 principles.
