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Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

Towards a New European industrial ecosystem for strategic metals production

Objectives of the commitment

The project intends to develop a new business between BOLIDEN plants in Finland and ERAMET plant in France. It is of strategic importance for the development of the 2 companies and based on a profound modification of their historical raw materials sourcing. The stakes of the development of this new process scheme are 1)Adapt the plants for the treatment of new feed materials and increase their competitiveness with the benefits of synergies between them. 2)Supply European market with significant quantities of strategic metals as Ni, Co, Cu, Fe and precious metals which are used in a variety of final products for ICT, energy supply, mobility,... 3)Ensure the industrial employment of 580 people in Plant. Given the low raw materials prices, the plants’ production and jobs are care currently at risk; 4)Environment: use of BAT and mitigation of environmental impacts.

Description of the activities

A successful project would be the results of innovations on both the technical side (both process and technologies) and the business side leading to production of a series of strategic metals for the European economy (Co, PGM, Ni, Cu), increase of resource efficiency and mitigation of the environmental impact. From new sources of nickel sulphide concentrates, the BOLIDEN Harjavalta Nickel smelter will produce Ni/Cu/Co/PGM mattes. These Mattes contain a mixture of iron, nickel, cobalt, copper and small contents of precious metals as palladium, platinum, gold and silver. They will be treated in ERAMET Ni Refinery to recover nickel, cobalt and iron. The refinery will separate a copper intermediate product containing the copper and the precious metals, will be then sent back to BOLIDEN. This Copper Intermediate will be used as raw material in the BOLIDEN Copper plant where the copper and the precious metals will be valorized, as well as the sulphur from copper intermediate which will be converted into sulphuric acid.
To meet this target, a European research cooperation and support is necessary:
- Research Groups for Thermodynamics and Modelling and for Hydrometallurgy and Corrosion at AALTO University will produce theoretical study on the process thermodynamics and kinetics coupled to preliminary lab tests;
- GeMMe (Mineral Science, Materials and Environment) group at University of Liège will provide characterization data and interpretation of phenomena at the different stages of the process;
- ERAMET RESEARCH will implement at pilot scale (TRL 6) the most promising process routes and fine-tune operating points of the Ni/Co hydrometallurgy process;
- ERAMET Sandouville will then implement the demonstration trials after TRL validation at ERAMET Research allowing this part of the process to reach TRL 7
- BOLIDEN Harjavalta will carry on pyrometallurgy demonstration trials in copper smelter and hydrometallurgy demonstration trials in copper refinery. Successful trials in operational environment will allow validation of TRL 7.

Description of the expected impacts

The expected impacts of the project covers different fields: business opportunities and competitiveness, employment, environment, raw material supply and knowledge management. The project will:
- allow ERAMET to maintain and develop production of Ni metal & chemicals in Europe
- guarantee long term customer of Ni matte for BOLIDEN and supplier for ERAMET
- increase precious metals production in BOLIDEN
The project will allow preserving jobs: given today’s low raw materials prices, the plants’ production and jobs are currently at risk. For ERAMET and BOLIDEN it means pursuing the activities of more than 580 employees. Preservation of these 2 plants is of importance for the European industrial make up. Today, ERAMET Sandouville is producing 6000 t/y of sulphur residue which is considered as a waste by the European Commision. After the project, ERAMET will produce in place of the sulphur residue 7300 t/y of Copper Intermediate which is considered as a product and will be processs by BOLIDEN for Cu, precious metals and H2SO4 production. Metals concerned by the project are vital for the European industry and the development of our society. This project, through the synergy between ERAMET and BOLIDEN will allow Europe to keep producing on the European soil important volumes of strategic and critical metals which are used in a variety of final products for ICT, energy supply, mobility, food processing, equipment and machinery. Without this synergy, these quantities would be produced outside Europe. The program will allow to strengthen a whole European Supply Chain from mines to end products and create added value in Europe. The program allows to maintain and develop knowledge in Europe in the field of extractive metallurgy.

Coordinating organisation & role

Name of the coordinating organisation: ERAMET ResearchCountry: FranceEntity profile: Private sector - large companyRole within the commitment:

ERAMET Research will be the leader of the project.
· ERAMET RESEARCH will implement at pilot scale (TRL 6) the most promising process
routes and operating points of the Ni/Co hydrometallurgy process;
· ERAMET Sandouville will then implement the demonstration trials after TRL validation
at ERAMET Research allowing this part of the process to reach TRL

Other partners

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Angewandten Forschung e.V.

Name of the organisation: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Angewandten Forschung e.V. Country: Germany Entity profile: Governmental/public body
Role within the commitment: Fraunhofer will lead the CFRP and GFRP recycling research.
Fraunhofer will perform corrosion tests on the developed materials.
Fraunhofer will work with CIDAUT on the implementation, validation and refinement of LCCA tools for the project. Fraunhofer is the Quality Manager of the Consortium and will oversee deliverables and general reporting are produced with the best possible quality following agreed review standards.

Fundacion Cidaut

Name of the organisation: Fundacion Cidaut Country: Spain Entity profile:
Role within the commitment: CIDAUT will lead the research activities on materials recycling and compounding, implementing lab scale demonstrators of each process at its premises and, later, supporting end-users upscale the processes.
CIDAUT will perform mechanical tests, microstructural analyses, injection moulding capability studies on the developed materails, and will work with Fraunhofer on the implementation, validation and refinement of LCCA tools for the project.

RWTH Aachen University (Institute of plastic processing (IKV)

Name of the organisation: RWTH Aachen University (Institute of plastic processing (IKV) Country: Germany Entity profile: Governmental/public body
Role within the commitment: RWTH will implement the novel 3D Generative Preforming process (3D Fibre Spraying) that enables to create high-value long fibre-reinforced 3D preforms for thermoplastic and thermoset composites at low process costs (different kinds of yarn as a raw material, low tooling costs due to low cavity pressures). This cost effective technology allows to align the sprayed fibres in order to produce high-performance, engineered anisotropic products.

Universita' di Cagliari

Name of the organisation: Universita' di Cagliari Country: Italy Entity profile:
Role within the commitment: University of Cagliari is one of the leading European organization in the resin design and coupling with thermoplastic and thermose materials. University of Cagliari will support in the definition of the composite materials, both from CFRP/GFRP, ABS and Rare Earth composite material.

Relight

Name of the organisation: Relight Country: Italy Entity profile: Private sector - SME
Role within the commitment: RELIGHT will work with ITRB to provide the research partners with residues for the recycled ABS supply and the REE recovery processes, including their HydroWEEE process as part of the processes to be studied and analyzed.

Piaggio Aerospace

Name of the organisation: Piaggio Aerospace Country: Italy Entity profile: Private sector - large company
Role within the commitment: Piaggio Aerospace is one of the project End Users (Aeronautics Industry): as such it will provide requirements and further applications that could be developed with the Consortium Materials. Piaggio will assist in the compounds selection, provide Fraunhofer with specific corrosion requirements on business jet size aircraft, and will assess that the developed materials performance fits the selected applications desired improvements.

Blackshape Aircrafts

Name of the organisation: Blackshape Aircrafts Country: Italy Entity profile: Private sector - SME
Role within the commitment: Blackshape Aircrafts is one of the project End Users (Aeronautics Industry): as such it will provide requirements and further applications that could be developed with the Consortium Materials. Blackshape will support to fulfill the requirements of the aeronautics industry on ultra light jet, light jet and trainer for Syllabus, and will assess that the developed alloys performance fits the selected applications desired improvements.

KU Leuven

Name of the organisation: KU Leuven Country: Belgium Entity profile: Academia
Role within the commitment: KUL will collaborate on the balance problem studies and will lead the rare earth recovery research with the solvometallurgical and ionometallurgical processes.
KUL will also contribute to the final compounding selection.
KUL is the Dissemination Manager of the project, promoting that all partners are active on the project Dissemination.

FIDAMC

Name of the organisation: FIDAMC Country: Spain Entity profile: Governmental/public body
Role within the commitment: FIDAMC is going to lead the Work Package on Compression Moulding with CFRP-enhanced materials. As part of the AIRBUS Group, FIDAMC will also be able to provide the input material.
FIDAMC successfully developed a 3D Printer of own design to serve the Aerospace Industry and will be supporting Smart Lab 3D Industries in its 3D printer design.

COMPOSITE INNOVATION CENTER

Name of the organisation: COMPOSITE INNOVATION CENTER Country: Canada Entity profile: Governmental/public body
Role within the commitment: Composite Innovation Center is one of the world leading organization in the field of Composite materials, both from carbon fiber and vegetal-based fibers.
Composite Innovation center has successfully implemented, at lab-scale, recycling processes for CFRP and GFRP.

Existing EU Contribution: Yes

Period to implement the commitment: from 01-02-2016 to 01-02-2018