Objectives and challenges
PEACOC aims to demonstrate a first-of-a-kind, economically and environmentally viable pre-commercial metallurgical system for recovering precious metals (PGMs, gold and silver) from diverse end-of-life products in Europe. Building on innovative technologies developed to TRL5 (microwave-assisted leaching and GDEx), the project targets scale-up to TRL7 and profitable recovery from low- and medium-grade waste streams. The main challenges lie in efficiently extracting critical raw materials from EoL products while reducing costs and environmental impacts compared to conventional hydrometallurgical processes, and proving industrial viability at pre-commercial scale.
EU Grant Agreement N° 958302.
2021-2026
Our role in the project
- Work Package Leader for the engineering, construction, and commissioning of the pre-commercial pilot
- Detailed engineering management of the Microwave Leaching, Filtration, and Gas Diffusion Electrocrystallisation processes
- Design, construction, and commissioning of the Filtration process
- Design, construction, and commissioning of the automation systems for the Filtration and Gas Diffusion Electrocrystallisation processes
- HAZOP studies and environmental impact assessments
Results
- Commissioning of a pilot process with a 50 L/h capacity
- Fully automated Gas Diffusion Electrocrystallisation and Filtration processes
- Preliminary HAZOP studies and environmental impact assessments
Our competences in the project
- Project management
- Chemical engineering
- Process design and assembly
- Industrial process training
- Automation system design, programming, and assembly
- Risk and environmental assessment