Project description
Sustainable recycling solutions for critical raw materials
Recycling machining tools for sourcing critical raw materials (CRM) from end-of-life (EoL) products via the zinc reclaim process has the potential to become a green solution in CRM supply. The EU-funded RESQTOOL project aims to deliver a sustainable and energy-efficient solution for recycling and responsible supply of CRM. EoL products such as metal/wood cutting tools and rock drilling tools mainly contain Co, W, Ta, Ti and Nb, which are initially manufactured by the European hard metal industry. The project aims to reduce the carbon footprint and energy consumption of the zinc reclaim process and develop advanced recycling techniques based on agro-industrial waste. Moreover, it will validate an approach towards zero-waste manufacturing using real-life parts as case studies from the hard metal industry.
Objective
Recycling of High Quality CRM Resources from Machining Tools for Re-use Applications
RESQTOOL will offer a sustainable and energy efficient solution for recycling and responsible supply of Critical Raw Materials (Co, W, Ta, Ti, Nb) from EoL products in Hard Metal industries of metal/wood cutting, construction and tool manufacturing by lowering the carbon footprint and energy consumption of Zinc reclaim process and developing advanced hydro- and solvo-metallurgical bio-chemical recycling based on agro-industrial waste
RESQTOOL will explore the potentials of Zinc Reclaim and Bio-chemical Recycling processes in the complete value chain of Hard Metals to offer a responsible, circular and sustainable supply of Critical Raw Materials in Europe together with a contribution to EU Climate neutrality objectives.
The project will demonstrate within 4 years the capability of these two complementary processes to re-use and recover Critical Raw Materials in all stages of the Hard Metals value chain ranging from collection, logistics, sorting and separation to cleaning, refining and purification of materials. Demonstrating an approach towards zero waste manufacturing by means of energy and resource efficiency, and by a validation using real parts from the HM industry, the project will go beyond the state-of-the-art in terms of maturity (from TRL 5 to 8) and hence contribute to the European Green Deal.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste managementwaste treatment processesrecycling
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrytransition metals
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringmining and mineral processing
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringmanufacturing engineeringsubtractive manufacturing
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicssustainable economy
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-IA - HORIZON Innovation ActionsCoordinator
1050 Bruxelles / Brussel
Belgium
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.