In May 2020 the SOLVOMET Group filed the patent application “Method for producing battery grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate” that became public in November 2021. The first part of the patented flowsheet is now disclosed in JSM.

On June 8, 2022, Panagiotis Xanthopoulos (SOLVOMET/SIM2 & MSCA-ETN SULTAN) obtained his PhD degree in Chemistry. He successfully defended his PhD thesis “Recovery of metal ions from dilute aqueous solutions by ion flotation”.

Within the framework of the EU Horizon 2020 project NEMO, SOLVOMET/SIM2 researchers have compared the effect of mixer-settlers and agitated columns on the separation of cobalt and nickel with Cyanex 272.

SOLVOMET/SIM² researchers have published their research on the effect of polar organic solvents on the solvent extraction process for rare-earth separation. The research was performed in the framework of the H2020 project NEMO.

To remine or not to remine extractive waste in Europe? That was the core question during the symposium "(Re)Mining Extractive Waste, A new business?" (Mechelen, May 17-18, 2022). SIM² Director Peter Tom Jones summarises the main lessons learned.

SIM² KU Leuven has secured Horizon Europe funding for the RIA ENICON project, which stands for “Sustainable processing of Europe's low-grade sulphidic and lateritic nickel/cobalt ores and tailings into battery-grade metals”.

SOLVOMET/SIM² researchers have published their research on a solvometallurgical process for the recovery of cobalt from lithium-ion batteries in Green Chemistry. The research was performed within the framework of the Horizon 2020 project CROCODILE.

Within the context of EU NEMO, SIM² KU Leuven/SOLVOMET researchers developed a non-aqueous solvent extraction process for the separation of heavy rare earths (HREEs). The work was published in Separation & Purification Technology.

SIM² KU Leuven - SOLVOMET researchers have studied the metathesis or anion-exchange of ionic liquids in a lab-scale, counter-current mixer-settler set-up. The work was published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.

Within the EU ETN SULTAN and PEACOC projects, SOLVOMET/SIM2 KU Leuven and VITO researchers developed a process to recover copper, zinc and lead from chloride leachates of PV residues. The work was published in RSC Advances.