EIT Raw Materials AVAR

Descrizione Generale

Raw materials are fundamental to Europe’s economy, and they are essential for maintaining and improving our quality of life. It has been estimated that 30 million jobs in the EU are directly reliant on access to raw materials. However, very little primary production occurs within Member States themselves, with the majority produced and supplied from third countries. The AVAR project aims to produce a number of scarce raw materials for the European economy from wastes from the alumina refining industry. Aluminium is the second most widely metal in the world. 90% of worldwide is produced from bauxite ores via the Bayer process. The alumina industry is facing substantial competitiveness issues in Europe (with 33 % of plants closed since 2003) and has also faced a seemingly intractable issue of how to effectively treat a number of waste streams within the Bayer process in particular bauxite residue and oxalate residues. The treatment and valorisation of impurities and waste streams within the Bayer alumina refining process, with the goal of improving the industry’s economic and environmental performance, is the basis of the AVAR project. The AVAR project represents an opportunity to increase the competitiveness of the alumina & aluminium sector in Europe and be at the forefront of resource efficient technologies for recovery of critical raw materials upstream in the alumina production process. The project will pilot the capture of high value and purity gallium and vanadium from upstream spent Bayer liquors whilst improving alumina yield within the Bayer process. Gallium has extensive use in the ICT industry while vanadium is using in Steel alloy allocation extensively in the automobile sector.

Attività svolta da ENEA