Become a Member of the Industrial Sounding Board (ISB)SIM² KU Leuven collaborates closely with industry, government and civil

society organisations through an open SIM² ISB. Once per year these

parties are invited to the open SIM² Annual (network) Meeting where

research results are shown and research roadmaps are discussed. The

membership of the ISB is free. To join the ISB a signed Letter of Intent has

to be sent to Dr. Ir. Peter Tom Jones.

Coordinator: Peter Tom JonesDept. of Materials Engineering (MTM)Kasteelpark Arenberg 44, 3001 Leuven (Belgium)Peter.jones@mtm.kuleuven.be+32 486 83 64 94

Research Liaison: Tom Van GervenDept. of Chemical EngineeringCelestijnenlaan 200F, 3001 Leuven (Belgium)+ 32 16 32 23 42

http://set.kuleuven.be/mrc/sim2/

CONTACT

SIM² Governance

Flagship projects and consortia with SIM² KU Leuven

SIM² KU Leuven is the interdisciplinary research consortium targeting

sustainable inorganic materials management and involving the depart-

ments or institutes:

Materials Engineering, Chemistry, Mechanical Engineerin, Chemical

Engineering, Civil Engineering, Microbial and Molecular Systems,

Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Research Unit International and European Law & Research Centre

for Economics and Corporate Sustainability and Leuven Interna-

tional and European Studies.

SIM² EventsSIM² KU Leuven has a rich history in (co-)organising Symposia and Events. More info: http: //set.kuleuven.be/mrc/sim2/symposiaandevents

SIM² KU Leuven

SIM² KU Leuven is a core partner in EIT Raw Materials and the

Version 2 – February 2016

Primary mining

Research Line 1: Base Metal Production and Recovery

Alternative energy forms (magnetic, microwave, plasma, light ultrasound) for process intensi"cation and enhanced metal recovery.Hot stage slag engineering. Solvometallurgy.Iron electrolysis. Quantitative characterisation and distribution analysis of base metals in primary raw materials and residues.

1. Direct preconsumer recycling.

2. Postconsumer, recycling and/or urban mining.

3. Land"ll mining of historic urban solid waste.

4. Metal recovery from industrial process residues.

5. Metal recovery from land"lled industrial process residues.

Residual mineral matrixes are valorised in engineered materials.

SIM² targets

SIM² Mission

SIM² targets zero-waste, environmental-friendly, cost-e$ective recovery/recycling approaches, covering the full value chain.

SIM² VisionA Society that uses its resources in an e%cient, e$ective and sustainable way.

SIM² Research

Base Metal Production and Recovery (led by Prof. Bart Blanpain).

Recovery of Critical Metals (led by Prof. Koen Binnemans) http://rare3.eu/.

Secondary Resources for Building / Engineered Materials (led by Dr. Yiannis

Pontikes).

Sustainability Assessment and Policy Research (led by Prof. Karel Van Acker).

Innovative, e%cient processes are developed for the recovery of rare-earth elements (REEs) and other critical metals (PGMs, Ge, In, Ga, Co, Ta) from end-of-life consumer goods, industrial process residues and low-grade ores. A combined use is made of pyro-, hydro-, solvo-, iono-,

electro- and biometallurgical methods. The recovery of the critical metals is part of larger &ow sheets for aim zero-waste valorisation of the metal-containing residues.

Pyro-, hydro-, solvo- and electrometal-lurgical unit processes are developed and integrated into zero-waste &ow sheets for the production and recovery of base metals such as iron and steel, copper, zinc, nickel and lead. Both experimental and modelling method-ologies are developed and used. The

experimental work covers the full range from lab scale to industrial scale production and is supported with the use of advanced charac-terisation techniques and modelling approaches.

Research Line 2: Critical Metal Recovery

Research Line 3: Upcycling of Low-grade Materials

Raw materials and residues are upcycled through innovative processes leading to new applica-tions. The developed processes and materials demonstrate a sustainabili-ty advantage over existing ones and are industrially realistic. In terms of raw materials, attention is placed on

clays, sludges, ashes, residues and tailings, whereas, as processes, alkali activation, carbonation, (bio-)leaching, and high tempera-ture processes, involving hydrothermal synthesis, liquid-phase sintering and clinkering, are investigated.

Synthesis of inorganic polymers and new binders.Bene"ciation of tailings and NORM residues.Low footprint (electromagnetic induction/radiation) high temperature processing.Holistic, zero waste &owsheets from Enhanced Land"ll Mining outputs.Waste water and waste water sludge as secondary resource.

Research Line 4: Sustainability Assessment and Policy Research

The Research Line investigates the economic and environmental feasibility of new &ow sheets for the recovery of metals and/or minerals from end-of-life consumer goods, industrial process residues and low-grade ores. Particular attention goes out to the legal, social and

economic bottlenecks, while assessing also the opportunities and possible incentives for sustainable (inorganic) materials manage-ment.

Life cycle assessments of material recycling and recovery &ow sheets (LCA).Materials &ows & sustainability assessment of material life cycles (MFA).Economic impact assessment studies for sustainable materials management (EIA).Policy context and legal aspects of sustainable materials management.

Flagship topics:

Flagship topics:

Flagship topics:

Flagship topics:

Research in SIM² KU Leuven is performed in four interconnected

Research Lines (RLs).

Design of extractants and adsorbents for critical metal recovery.

Solvometallurgical leaching and preconcentration of critical

metals.

Solvent extraction for separation and puri"cation of critical metals.

Critical metal recovery from dilute aqueous waste streams.Alternative energy forms (magnetic, microwave, plasma, light ultrasound) for process intensi"cation and enhanced metal recovery.

Quantitative characterisation and distribution analysis of critical

metals in primary raw materials and residues.