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Deep Eutectic Solvents and the Future of the Critical Metals Circular Economy

低共熔溶剂和关键金属循环经济的未来

基本信息

批准号：
MR/W010232/1
负责人：
Robert Harris
金额：
$ 134.27万
依托单位：
Argo Natural Resources Ltd t/a Descycle
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Fellowship
财政年份：
2022
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2022 至无数据
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FW010232%2F1
关键词：
Deep Eutectic Solvents Future Critical

项目摘要

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is the world's fastest growing waste stream, generating approximately 54 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa). The value of the metals contained in this waste stream is valued at £43Bn, including numerous precious and critical metals needed to move to a low carbon economy, most of which is lost to landfill. WEEE that is recycled is processed using inefficient and environmentally impactful smelting and refining processes that require significant energy, water use and discharge of large quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere, a processes that is at odds with commitments to a low carbon economy. The UK, which is one of the largest WEEE producers (23.9kg/person; 1.6mtpa) (UN GEM 2020), exports huge volumes of WEEE for recycling due to limited domestic and advanced recycling capacity. There is therefore a need within the UK for a domestic recycling option that can not only recycle and extract the trapped metal value within WEEE but do so in a more efficient and environmentally sustainable way. This research will build on current UK research into the application of a novel chemistry, known as Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES), in the extraction of metals form WEEE. The research aims to create a low impact alternative to current WEEE recycling methods, reducing the environmental impact of metals production and establishing the UK as a world leader in the field of environmentally sustainable metals recycling and production with the associated economic benefits of GDP increase and job creation. DES are based on very simple chemistry where molecules such as pro-vitamin B4, (in chicken feed), are combined with organic molecules such as citric acid, (in fruit), or urea, which is a (fertiliser) to form liquids that excel at dissolving metals. They are a class of biodegradable, environmentally benign, low cost, recyclable, water free, free of strong acid and base liquids that were developed in the UK as an alternative to highly dangerous, toxic and environmentally hazardous processes that are currently employed. They can dissolve metals out of mined ores and also WEEE, so can be applied to multiple metal processing industries. They do not produce large amounts of waste, greenhouse gases or other particulate emissions, require less energy and are highly efficient at dissolving a wide range of different metals. This makes them excellent solvents for recycling and recovery of metals that can then be used in the low carbon economy, such as nickel, copper, gold etc. which have uses in the move to electrification over fossil fuel use. DES can also extract other metals, including Rare Earth Elements (REE) which are crucial in the production of efficient permanent magnet motors for hybrid-electric vehicles and wind turbine generators.Rare Earth Element (REE) recovery is another critical industry to the UK economy however, China currently produces around 80% of the world's REE. Furthermore, only 1% of REE are currently recycled. The current processes are in many ways similar to the ones that are used in current WEEE recycling processes and so are also in need of cleaner alternatives. This presents an exciting and critical opportunity for the UK to develop new lower energy and environmentally safer technology to become global leaders in this industry as well. This would remove the reliance on countries like China for supply of these metals.The need for increasing WEEE recycling and establishing a sophisticated UK industry has been called for in the latest Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) report and securing the supply of REE outside of China, necessary for renewable projects such as the Dogger Bank wind farm, is a priority both at national and European level. These are both issues this research can help solve by recovering and recycling critical metals for a low carbon and circular economy in the UK. DES are exactly the technology to drive this metals recycling revolution in the UK forward.

废弃电器和电子设备(WEEE)是世界上增长最快的废物流，每年产生约5400万吨(Mtpa)。这条废流中所含金属的价值为430亿英镑，其中包括转向低碳经济所需的大量贵金属和关键金属，其中大部分被丢弃在垃圾填埋场。回收的WEEE使用低效和对环境有影响的冶炼和精炼过程进行处理，这些过程需要大量能源、水的使用，并向大气中排放大量二氧化碳，这一过程与低碳经济的承诺相悖。英国是最大的废旧电子电器生产国之一(23.9公斤/人；1.6Mtpa)(联合国全球创业板2020)，由于国内和先进的回收能力有限，该国出口了大量用于回收的废旧电子电气产品。因此，英国国内需要一种家庭回收方案，不仅可以回收和提取WEEE中被困金属的价值，而且以更高效和环境可持续的方式这样做。这项研究将建立在英国目前对一种新的化学物质--深度共晶溶剂(DES)在从废电子电气设备中提取金属的应用的研究的基础上。这项研究旨在创造一种低影响的替代目前的WEEE回收方法，减少金属生产对环境的影响，并确立英国在环境可持续金属回收和生产领域的世界领先地位，以及相关的GDP增加和创造就业的经济效益。DES建立在非常简单的化学基础上，比如在鸡肉饲料中的维生素B4原等分子，与柠檬酸(在水果中)或尿素等有机分子结合在一起，尿素是一种(肥料)，形成擅长溶解金属的液体。它们是一类可生物降解、环境友好、低成本、可回收、不含水、不含强酸和强碱的液体，是英国开发的一种替代目前使用的高度危险、有毒和环境有害的工艺。它可以从开采的矿石中溶解金属，也可以从废电子电器中溶解金属，因此可以应用于多种金属加工行业。它们不会产生大量的废物、温室气体或其他颗粒排放，需要的能源更少，而且在溶解各种不同的金属方面非常高效。这使它们成为回收和回收金属的极佳溶剂，这些金属随后可用于低碳经济，如镍、铜、金等，这些金属在电气化方面的用途超过了化石燃料的使用。DES还可以提取其他金属，包括在混合动力汽车和风力涡轮机的高效永磁电机生产中至关重要的稀土元素。稀土元素回收是英国经济的另一个关键产业。然而，中国目前生产的稀土元素约占世界稀土总量的80%。此外，目前只有1%的稀土元素被回收利用。目前的流程在许多方面与目前的WEEE回收流程中使用的流程相似，因此也需要更清洁的替代品。这为英国提供了一个令人兴奋的关键机会，可以开发新的、能源更低、环境更安全的技术，从而成为该行业的全球领导者。这将消除对像中国这样的国家供应这些金属的依赖。最新的环境审计委员会(EAC)报告呼吁增加废旧电子电器回收和建立复杂的英国产业的必要性，确保中国以外的稀土供应是国家和欧洲层面的优先事项，这是道格银行风力发电场等可再生项目所必需的。这项研究可以通过回收和循环关键金属来帮助解决这两个问题，以实现英国的低碳和循环经济。DES正是推动英国金属回收革命向前发展的技术。