Industry: Chemical energy Region: Germany Transaction price: US$ 1 million Transaction method: equity investment
Project introduction:
Scientists at the Kloster University of Technology in Germany have developed a low-cost, high-stability and switchable material for selectively adsorbing and separating metal cations and metal-containing anions from complex mixtures and solutions. This technology can be applied to electronic product recycling wastewater and process water treatment.
Industry challenge
Bismuth, silicon, cobalt, aluminum and palladium are listed as key raw materials by the European Union, while elements such as copper, zinc and nickel have important technical significance. The separation of metal cations or heavy metal cations is not only related to drinking water and wastewater treatment. On the contrary, after hydrometallurgical digestion of natural ore or slag produced in the recovery process, aqueous solution will also be produced. In this case, the metal may be transformed into a complex mixture of various water-soluble anions and cations. When it is necessary to separate specific metal cations from aqueous solutions containing a large number of cations and anions, challenges will be encountered. Heavy metals exist in the form of cations in water, but it is even rarer to exist in the form of complex anions. Ion exchangers and membrane absorbers can be used to filter drinking water, while activated carbon is usually used to remove heavy metals from drinking water, wastewater and process water. From a technical and/or economic point of view, a relatively long contact time (which is necessary for diffusion to pores) and a large amount of activated carbon required by wastewater treatment plants may be disadvantages.
Innovative solutions
The complex aqueous solution is irradiated with light (specific parameters) to form free radicals, or light repulsion is carried out to form non-free radical species in the aqueous solution, thus realizing customized switching of adsorption materials. As a further switching parameter, the pH value of the aqueous solution can be increased to protonate the adsorption material, or the pH value can be decreased to protonate the adsorption material, depending on the required switching event. According to metal cations and/or metal-containing anions, light irradiation or light repulsion and/or pH value are set so as to be adsorbed by the adsorption material. Therefore, according to specific switching parameters, various metal cations and metal-containing anions can be adsorbed and separated from complex solutions with relatively little workload.
advantage
This patented technology can provide process protection while protecting materials/compounds, and has high efficiency and repeatability in laboratory scale.
Can be applied to electronic product recycling wastewater and process water treatment. Adsorption materials are highly stable, renewable, mass-produced, low-cost, sustainable and have economic advantages.
Cooperation mode:
Process amplification is in progress. Provide patent licensing cooperation.