The increasing complexity of products and the components and composites used in them from the high-tech sector means that a large number of elements with different chemical and physical properties are now being used. However, conventional methods of dismantling and processing the sometimes microscopically small components are no longer sufficient to ensure recovery. This applies above all to the economically strategic raw materials used in small quantities, whose supply situation is critical.
The priority program will investigate how a combination of mechanical, pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processing and concentration processes can enable efficient recovery. Methods for this must be developed and the chemical and physical behavior of the elements in the process must be understood.
In order to enable an efficient process, the material composites, which cannot be separated further in advance, are to be divided into the three material streams of molten metal, molten slag and waste gas/dust phase by means of controlled pyrometallurgical processing. The slag melt contains the majority of the metals sought, which are to be recovered efficiently by means of a targeted influence on slag formation, downstream processing and pre-concentration in mechanical processes and final concentration in hydrometallurgical processes.
Interdisciplinary working groups are investigating the possibilities of targeted slag formation and crystallization in order to achieve the best possible starting conditions for subsequent processes. In coordination with this, digestion, sorting, as well as accumulation mechanisms and separation behavior are being investigated, selective auxiliary materials and other green hybrid separation processes are being developed, which can be used by the development of new processes.
The priority program is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
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