News

SIM² KU Leuven/SOLVOMET researchers studied how a variation of the halide extraction medium affects the separation of precious and base metals using an undiluted ionic liquid. The work was published in ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng.

In the first official SIM² interview on the KU Leuven website, SIM² Director Peter Tom Jones explains the new KU Leuven Institute for Metals & Minerals’ view on the Circular Economy, against the background of the Corona pandemic.

SIM² KU Leuven researchers have developed a new solvometallurgical extraction process to produce copper from sulphidic copper ore minerals (e.g. chalcopyrite), allowing to reduce the eco-footprint of primary copper production.

SIM² KU Leuven - SOLVOMET researchers have developed a novel solvent extraction system to remove magnesium from lithium-rich solutions, allowing a major reduction of the eco-footprint of lithium recovery from brines.

The KU Leuven Institute for Sustainable Metals and Minerals (SIM² KU Leuven v2.0) is up and running. Peter Tom Jones presents the status quaestionis and proudly launches SIM²’s – thermodynamically-proof – Circular Economy scheme.

A BBC Future article featuring Ana Maria Martinez (SINTEF) illustrates that old electronics are domestic mines of precious metals. Martina Orefice (SIM² KU Leuven) provides further background referring to several EU projects.

“The Missing Link of the Circular Economy 2.0” video shows why the waste of the past cannot be consigned to oblivion. A comprehensive Circular Economy vision should, therefore, find answers for Europe’s 500,000+ landfills.

How feasible is the transition to a climate-neutral economy (European Green Deal) in terms of the availability of the required (critical) metals? During the March 12 Seminar in Brussels an expert panel tried to provide answers.

Within the European ITN EREAN project, researchers from Fraunhofer and TU Darmstadt studied the influence of Ce and La substitution in NdFeB magnets by fast solidification and hydrogen treatments. The results were published in Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials and Journal of Alloys and Compounds.

Register now for a seminar on "Green transition challenged by the metal supply chain". The event takes place on March 12, 2020 in the Flemish Parliament in Brussels (Belgium). Various EU H2020 projects will cluster around the challenges they face.