Recovery of all CRMs from waste is still unexplored territory

CRITICAL. ​is developing highly efficient technology configurations to recover Critical Raw Materials ('CRMs') from Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment ('WEEE') and Industrial Waste. In this context, we are advancing an EU subsidy-funded programme to extract and produce ultra-high-purity Gallium ('Ga'), Germanium ('Ge'), Indium ('In') and Silicon-metal ('Si') from waste PCBs, LED Screens, Solar Panels and Residues for the semiconductor industry. ​These elements are currently hardly or not recovered at all — it can be considered an unexplored territory within Urban Mining.

The awarded CLOSER subsidy concerns the EU's Interregional Innovation Investments ('i3') instrument. CLOSER bridges the EU's Critical Raw Materials Act ('CRMA') and the EU's Chips Act ('CA'), with an end Technology Readiness Level of 7 to 9 ('TRL' 7-9), out of 9.