The CECO-MET (Circular Economy in practice by recycling critical Metals) project has been awarded a prize by the Tech4Impact Initiative from Switzerland Innovation. Under the leadership of the chemist Dr. Ajay Patil, the project has successfully developed an innovative process at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) that allows rare earth metals with high levels of purity to be recovered, for example, from objects such as smartphones and computers.
Patil’s start-up goes by the name of REMRETEch (Rare Earth Metals Recycling Technologies) and according to a press release issued by Switzerland Innovation will be headquartered at Park Innovaare in Villigen after being spun-off from the PSI. Here, with the help of the prize money of 85,000 Swiss francs from Tech4Impact, he intends to further develop his recycling technology and establish a business on the back of this concept. The aim is to develop a complete pilot system for the recovery of rare earth metals such as neodymium and dysprosium. Both are considered to be highly relevant raw materials for the green energy and e-mobility industries.
CECO-MET came about at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Villigen. In addition, the project is based on research results processed by Patil at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne. As explained in the press release, his methods could offer “higher process throughput and improved financial and ecological prospects in comparison with current technological standards”. In this way, this process would “contribute to the aims of the circular economy”.
“We are recycling the key factors of our technological and futuristic economy”, explains Patil in the press release, before adding: “We are incredibly thankful to Switzerland Innovation for supporting our activities to promote the circular economy and sustainability in practice”.
