Siderophores assisted Biorecovery of Technology Critical Elements: Gallium (Ga), germanium (Ge) and indium (In) from end-of-life products (SIDEREC)

The SIDEREC project is aiming at recovering Gallium (Ga), germanium (Ge) and indium (In) from end-of-life products end-of-life (EOL) products as a way to overcome the shortage of these critical elements.

Start: 01/11/2019 - End: 30/04/2023

National partnership

Coordinators : Eric van Hullebusch

Host institutions :
IPGP-UMR7154

Partner institutions :
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, ASA Spezialenzyme GmbH, Universidad Catolica del Norte

The SIDEREC project (Siderophores assisted Biorecovery of Technology Critical Elements (TCEs): Gallium (Ga), germanium (Ge) and indium (In) from end-of-life products) coordinated by IPGP was selected in the ERA-MIN 2 call for tenders. The SIDEREC project is aiming at recovering Gallium (Ga), germanium (Ge) and indium (In) from end-of-life products end-of-life (EOL) products as a way to overcome the shortage of these critical elements. However, there are no technologies available for recycling of these critical elements due to their low concentrations and presence of large number of contaminants. A highly selective and sensitive solvent, ligand or reaction is needed to recover these critical elements. Siderophores has been shown to bind selectively bind to Ga, In and Ge even when these metals are present in very low concentrations. The SIDEREC project aims to tackle two main challenges in the recovery of critical elements from their EOL products using siderophores. The challenges are 1) Right selection and production of siderophores, 2) Access of siderophores to the target critical elements in EOL products. Upon successful leaching of target critical elements and siderophore complexes, the decomplexation, and recovery of critical elements and siderophores will be carried out by implementing the GaLIophore technology.

Fundings

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