PEACOC (Pre-commercial pilot for the efficient recovery of Precious Metals from European end of life resources with novel low-cost technologies) an EU-funded project, aims at solving the current challenges that limit the recovery of Precious Metals at massive scale, while exploiting the vast potential of EU secondary resources.
The project will research and demonstrate on a pre-commercial level, novel, effective, low-cost and environmentally friendly technologies for recovering gold, silver and Platinum Group Metals from complex waste mixtures. PEACOC aims at treating end-of-life products in Europe, including spent autocatalysts, low/mid-grade printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) (currently poorly valorised in the EU) and photovoltaic waste.
The project concept is based on previously-developed recovery and refining technologies to TRL5 in the frame of another H2020-funded research and innovation project, PLATIRUS. Some of the selected technologies from the PLATIRUS project, namely Microwave-assisted leaching, Gas-diffusion electrocrystallization (VITO) and Deep eutectic solvents (TECNALIA), for recycling and recovery of Platinum Group Metals will be further scaled up to TRL7 in the PEACOC project. They will be combined with other innovative concentration technologies as well as technologies for the valorisation of the waste that will be produced aiming at nearly zero-waste process.
The PEACOC solutions are expected to be first-of-its-kind in Europe. The innovation concept of the project has been funded with €11.2 million from the EU’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme and has a total cost of €12.8 million . To research, demonstrate and place in the market those new sustainable technologies for recovery of Precious Metals, the project will be run by a consortium of 19 partners from 8 European countries and Turkey, representing leading business, technological and research organizations, and institutions across Europe. The project coordinator Tecnalia Research & Innovation (Spain) will oversee the project’s implementation plan of 11 work packages for a duration of 4 years.
The project started on 1st May 2021 and will run until 30 April 2025. The involved partners cover the whole value chain to produce Precious Metals from end-of-life products and waste.
IMPACTS
The PEACOC project is expected to generate unique know-how. This is the first time that novel refining technologies will be constructed at pre-commercial pilot scale and integrated together with existing processes and pilot technologies across the EU. Thus, demonstrating the low-cost recovery of Precious Metals from a wide range of end-of-life products, that is a full value chain from waste to innovative products. The PEACOC pre-commercial pilot will present a true technology transfer from the R&D stage to marketable products.
Therefore, the PEACOC technologies are designed to have technological, economic, societal impacts for the European communities. The PEACOC processes are projected to drastically reduce the supply risk of Precious Metals for the European industry. Thus, enabling new business opportunities for SMEs working with recycling of end-of-life products and consolidating the position of large industries (i.e., recycling companies, refineries, automotive, metallurgy).
3DHUB proudly participates as a partner is this project and is heavily involved in contributing towards work package 8 “Valorisation of recovered PMs and residual matrices into different applications”.
In specific 3DHUB leads Task 8.6. Valorization of powder composites into filaments for 3D printing where composite powders produced in task 8.5 by the partner MBN will serve as input material for 3DHUB in order to be converted to feedstock for use in additive manufacturing. These powders will be used for the development of special filaments for use in Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). In the manufacture of filaments for FDM, the ceramic and metal particles are compounded with a polymer and extruded to form a filament. The filament is then used to 3D print the object of interest using widely available FDM 3D printers.
Occasionally, when the percentage of metal powders in the filament is chosen to be high (typically above 70%), the final part can then be treated in an oven to remove the polymer and sinter the component into pure metal or ceramic parts.
3DHUB will investigate different conditions of extrusion and formulations of raw polymers as polyethylene glycol, polylactic acid, polypropylene, and polyethylene to the development filaments for FDM. Functional additives and pre-processing of the feedstock will be optimized in collaboration with Task 8.5 targeting filaments with the highest solid content yet still capable to be printed with standard FDM 3D printing machines. To this end, the nature of the filler, its concentration in the polymer matrix and the process parameters, i.e. melting temperature, thermal stability or time of mixing will be optimized.
