[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/10884\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003ETo secure raw materials, Europe turns to recycling\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr John Bediako has criss-crossed the globe his whole life. He was born and raised in Ghana, earned a doctorate degree in South Korea and now works in Finland on a key challenge for Europe: reusing electronic waste, or e-waste.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018It\u2019s a hot topic,\u2019 said Bediako, a researcher in the School of Engineering Sciences at Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology. \u2018We could clean up the environment and, at the same time, fuel our economy. That fascinates me.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EExtraction challenge\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe European high-tech economy runs on raw materials such as cobalt, platinum, palladium and gold, which are present in everything from mobile phones to solar panels.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYet these materials are often mined in distant places from Europe and in ways that damage the environment.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor example, China supplies\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/commission\/presscorner\/detail\/en\/fs_23_1663\u0022\u003E97% of the EU\u2019s magnesium\u003C\/a\u003E, which is used in metal products that need to be strong but lightweight such as bicycles, ladders and laptops. China is also the source of the rare earths used in magnets \u2013 an essential component of electric cars and wind turbines.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne answer for Europe is to recycle critical raw materials as long as they can be extracted from the products being discarded. But that\u2019s easier said than done.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECertain materials are present in such small quantities that it\u2019s hard to remove them. Or often the treatment processes don\u2019t allow for a full removal.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EScientists like Bediako are finding new ways to turn heaps of waste into literal goldmines.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeopolitical goal\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBesides bringing environmental benefits, success on this front would bolster the geopolitical position of the EU by making it less reliant on imported raw materials that also come from Russia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other nations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003EThe best way to prevent Europe\u2019s progress from depending on external countries is to recycle.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDr Elisabet Andres Garcia, PEACOC\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Europe lacks many precious metals,\u2019 said Dr Elisabet Andres Garcia, project manager at TECNALIA, a private centre for applied research and technological development in San Sebastian, Spain. \u2018The best way to prevent Europe\u2019s progress from depending on external countries is to recycle.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine prompted a spike in the price of palladium, a soft silver-white metal mined mainly in Russia and used in the production of cars, electronic components and even dental fillings.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo ensure it can retain access to these materials, the EU is focusing on its own production and on research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn March 2023, the European Commission moved to boost domestic EU output of essential commodities through a draft law. Called the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/resource.html?uri=cellar:903d35cc-c4a2-11ed-a05c-01aa75ed71a1.0001.02\/DOC_1\u0026amp;format=PDF\u0022\u003ECritical Raw Materials Act\u003C\/a\u003E, the proposed legislation would set targets of at least 10% for the extraction, 40% for the processing and 15% for the recycling in Europe of these substances.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGold retrievers\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EParallel to this, the EU is building on previous research into e-waste extraction. One new project received EU funding to boost the recovery of precious metals including gold, platinum and silver.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAndres Garcia coordinates the project, which is called\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/id\/958302\u0022\u003EPEACOC\u003C\/a\u003E and runs for four years until the end of April 2025.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt brings together 19 participants from nine countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey and the UK. The participants range from the research arm of Italian car brand Fiat to a Dutch maker of 3D printers for ceramics and metals called Admatec Europe.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We\u2019re broadening the waste streams we can treat,\u2019 said Andres Garcia. \u2018We\u2019re, for example, now recycling certain circuit boards from which we can get precious metals like gold.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA circuit board from, say, a broken television might be ground down and run through chemical processes pioneered by PEACOC.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis processing eventually teases out precious metals from the waste \u2013 something that, until this point, was done only on a limited scale. The processes were developed in a previous EU-funded project called PLATIRUS and are now being designed for bigger operations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDIY waste crushing\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBediako is focused on smaller, but no less important, volumes as head of another EU-funded research project. It\u2019s called\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/id\/101026202\u0022\u003EIONIC BARRIER\u003C\/a\u003E and lasts for two years through January 2024.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn it, Bediako is trying to develop new chemical processes to extract critical materials from e-waste when only a small amount is present.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003EThe least we can do is not to let all of this waste go to waste.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDr John Bediako, IONIC BARRIER\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Sometimes the concentration of target metals is so low that existing methods aren\u2019t able to capture them,\u2019 he said. \u2018With the technology I\u2019m developing, we would be able to recover certain materials selectively even when they\u2019re found in very low concentrations and in complex mixtures.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBediako is refining his process in the laboratory.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe manually crushes the e-waste, separates the plastic from the metal and then runs it through several steps: submerging the metal in a solution, leaching the resulting mixture and treating elements with absorbents.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt the end of the process, all that remain are gold, palladium and platinum.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBediako compared the amounts of gold in discarded phones and in the earth to underscore the value of his research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018There\u2019s about 350 grammes of gold per tonne of e-waste from phones,\u2019 he said. \u2018If you dig up ore from the ground, there\u2019s only about five to 30 grammes of gold per tonne in there. It\u2019s just common sense to improve our recycling abilities.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEyes on Athens\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA key question is whether these processes can be done in economical and environmental ways.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn other words, researchers need to make their operations efficient enough to compete with mining without being environmentally harmful.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUnder PEACOC, large-scale testing is scheduled to take place in 2025 in Athens, Greece at the facilities of a company called Monolithos that sorts and processes automotive catalytic converters. The goal is to learn whether the methods can be applied on a commercial scale.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We\u2019re looking at several ways to use the metals we gain from recycling,\u2019 said Andres Garcia. \u2018They might be used in 3D printing, in the construction of new autocatalysts, but we\u2019re just as well looking at the fabrication of jewellery.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne thing is clear: Europe can no longer afford to let valuable resources go unused in the myriad piles of discarded goods that modern economies generate.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Our high-tech industries and energy transition need new critical raw materials,\u2019 said Bediako. \u2018The least we can do is not to let all of this waste go to waste.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EResearch in this article was funded by the EU via the Marie Sk\u0142odowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). The views of the interviewees don\u2019t necessarily reflect those of the European Commission. 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