Tests confirm quality of purified graphite from used lithium-ion batteries

Important step for the Circular Economy

11-Apr-2024 - Lithium-ion batteries have become an integral part of everyday life. The number of used batteries is correspondingly high. They contain considerable amounts of important raw materials such as graphite. Recycling this mineral for being reused for new batteries with the same performance is an ...

Innovative graphite recycling awarded as top European innovation

Anna Vanderbruggen receives the EIT CHANGE Award for her revolutionary graphite extraction method which could decrease the environmental footprint of battery production

18-Oct-2022 - Each year, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) celebrates the entrepreneurial and societal achievements of its innovators. They are honored with the EIT Awards in four categories: CHANGE, Innovators, Venture and Women Leadership. Anna Vanderbruggen received the CHANGE Award ...

Levitating rarities

Magnetic trapping of rare-earth ions may lead to a handy technology for their separation

09-Jun-2022 - Some raw materials are considered critical by the European Commission. These include many representatives from the rare-earth elements group, for which supply bottlenecks are imminent and no simple substitute options in technological applications exist. With currently no economically feasible ...

When batteries become foam

New concept for improved battery recycling

09-Nov-2021 - Efficiently recycling batteries and reintegrating the recovered materials into production is still an apparently unsolvable problem for industry. That's why researchers around the world are looking for new approaches. One of them is Anna Vanderbruggen. The PhD student at the Helmholtz Institute ...

Recycle high-tech waste biologically

Innovative biotechnological process extracts gallium from industrial wastewater

18-Mar-2021 - Gallium is a rare metal, but it is widely used in the high-tech industry. This extreme contrast makes recycling indispensable. However, current recycling processes are costly and chemically polluted. Biotechnological approaches, therefore, rely on peptides, as they are able to bind metallic ...

‘Bio-fishing’ for rare earths

How protein fragments can be used for the recycling of electronics waste

17-Oct-2018 - Without important key elements such as copper or rare earth metals, the electronics industry would grind to a halt and electricity would cease to flow. End-of-life products like discarded energy-saving lamps, mobile phones and computers could provide an important secondary source for these ...

Luminous bacterial proteins detect chemicals in water

13-Jun-2013 - While residual medications don’t belong in the water, trace metals from industrial process waters handled by the recycling industry are, in contrast, valuable resources. Scientists at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have developed a simple color sensor principle which facilitates ...