Upcycling of waste - for a sustainable use

In a circular economy it will become increasingly important to recover metals and other precious resources from waste. Electrowinning is, under the right circumstances, a selective and efficient way to recover metals such as copper, zinc, lead, nickel, gold and silver.

Recovery of metals by electrowinning

IPU has more than 20 years of experience within the field of electrochemistry and electroplating. Over the last years this knowledge has been used in several projects to recover metals from waste. The recovery of the metals can be in the form of a precipitate that can be removed from a solution by filtration – or in the form of pure metals deposited by electroplating (this is called electrowinning).

These methods can be used for various types of waste, such as:

fly ash containing heavy metals such as zinc or lead
scrap electronics containing precious metals or rare earth elements
waste water from various industries

Typically the process consists of a number of steps. First the waste material is processed into smaller pieces by shredding or other similar processes. Then the material is partly dissolved in a process called leaching. A specially designed mixture or acids (and other chemicals) is added to the waste, in order to dissolve some of the metals, and leave inert particles such as sand unharmed. Using either precipitation or deposition the metals are then recovered from this solution in the last step. In most cases the leaching chemicals can by recycled.

Neodumsulfate and magnet

Crystals of pure neodymium sulfate recovered from magnets in scrapped hard disc drives.

If you would like to know more about how IPU can help you find solutions for your most complex challenges, contact us. Our international team of specialists will be happy to assist you.