Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English en
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

The pulse of metal: Next-generation electrified hydrometallurgy enabling maximum recovery of critical and precious metals

Objective

Because of inefficient recovery systems, vast amounts of critical and precious metals like platinum, iridium, gold, copper and rare earth elements are left behind during refining. For example, even the most advanced technologies for platinum and palladium achieve only 95% efficiency, while for the more valuable rhodium and iridium recovery rates are lower, often in the range of just 85%. As the global refining industry processes over €500 billion worth of critical metals annually, each 1% loss represents €5 billion in wasted value and resources. Many of these metals are not only expensive but also classified as strategically important under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA).
Elmery has developed a breakthrough technology for selective metal recovery at very high >99% efficiency, allowing to capture the remaining 5-15% that current technologies struggle with. Elmery’s technology has successfully recovered 22 metals recognized as critical or strategic under the EU’s 2023 CRM list, and 16 other elements of customer interest or critical outside EU. Our innovation lies in a patent-protected pulsating electrolysis technology. We tailor electric pulse parameters for every solution, learning from each customer case to refine our “recipes”, further optimizing them with ML/AI to attract all the desired metals out of liquid solutions.
Tens of companies have expressed interest in our technology. With the proposed EIC Accelerator project, we address the urgent need to accelerate the transition from customer-specific test projects into the live service stage and demonstrate the technology at a full refinery scale for the first time for three recovery processes. Successful implementation of the project would put Elmery on a strong growth path, resulting in the recovery of materials worth €800 million by the end of 2032 and reducing Europe’s dependency on non-EU sources of critical raw materials and technologies.

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.

This project has not yet been classified with EuroSciVoc.
Be the first one to suggest relevant scientific fields and help us improve our classification service

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

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.

Topic(s)

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

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.

HORIZON-EIC-ACC - HORIZON EIC Accelerator

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) HORIZON-EIC-2026-ACCELERATOR-02

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

Elmery Oy
Net EU contribution

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.

€ 2 463 969,38
Address
Vattuniemenkatu 4 A 13
00210 Helsinki
Finland

See on map

SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Manner-Suomi Helsinki-Uusimaa Helsinki-Uusimaa
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data