Project description
Tribolysis technology for recycling of organofluorides
Fluoropolymers are essential for applications in semiconductors and green technologies, such as hydrogen production and electric vehicles. However, their disposal is limited and the EU relies on imports for fluorspar, a critical resource with a recycling rate of only 1 % due to a lack of effective recycling technologies. The EU-funded TriFluorium project will demonstrate the tribolysis recycling principle for organofluorides, regardless of their chemical structure or state. The process uses a tribocontact site that can trigger mechanically induced reactions, creating high-energy spots to break down stable organofluorides and activate safe reactants, converting them into stable inorganic products. The project will also develop a dedicated triboreactor for laboratory-scale validation, paving the way for scaling and industrialising tribolysis technology.
Objective
TriFluorium largely expands current circular economy capabilities for highly stable organofluoride waste (PFAS, including fluoropolymers) and provides safe, sustainable and efficient regeneration of fluorine into safe, stable inorganic fluorides as industrial resource, such as fluorspar. Fluoropolymers are indispensable for many critical (e.g. semiconductors) and green (e.g hydrogen production, fuel cells, EVs) applications and their disposal options are very limited. Needed fluorspar resource is listed as EUs critical raw material and is acquired outside of the EU with recycling rate at 1% due to the lack of proper technologies.
TriFluorium wants to achieve proof of the tribolysis recycling principle for organofluorides (TRL 3) irrespective of particular chemical structure, molecular weight, or liquid/solid form under properly designed controllable tribocontact site, which promotes chemical reactions initiated by mechanical stimuli. Tribolysis shall within one processing step generate local dense-energy spots to initiate decomposition of very stable organofluorides, including the perfluorinated ones, and to activate safe reactants, such as alkaline earth metal (Group II) salts or oxides to efficiently convert organofluorides into safe, stable inorganic products (mineralization).
TriFluorium will also develop a dedicated Tribo-Reactor for laboratory scale validation of tribolysis F-recycling (TRL 4) for process scaling and enhancement of tribolysis technology development towards industrial application. The locally initiated reactions with benign reactants have inherently safe operational and energy-efficiency features. Supporting toxicological and LCA assessments will be carried out to comprehensively evaluate tribolysis recycling process and Tribo-Reactor performance from all relevant perspectives.
The foundation of tribolysis recycling for organofluorides answers urgent technological needs and contributes to current environmental, economic, and social goals.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology environmental engineering waste management waste treatment processes recycling
- natural sciences physical sciences electromagnetism and electronics semiconductivity
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry halogens
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.3.1 - The European Innovation Council (EIC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-EIC-2024-PATHFINDEROPEN-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
2700 Wiener Neustadt
Austria
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
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