Consortium

VITO (Flemish Institute for Technological Research), is a leading European independent research and consultancy center in the areas of cleantech and sustainable development, elaborating solutions for the large societal challenges of today. Sustainable chemistry, energy, health, materials management and land use: these are the five topics VITO focuses on. These topics have been set out in five research programs. They offer an answer to the challenges that mankind and society are confronted with today and in the future. Each program builds up a strong base of knowledge and skill, with added value for industry and society. The result is new and innovative research and a comprehensive range of scientific services.

Main tasks and responsibilities in the project:

Information coming soon

As experienced facilitators, we find ways of using by-products from one partner as raw material for another. At Solvakem, we see industrial symbiosis as an innovative, mutually beneficial solution to many of the environmental and economic challenges facing industries today. Main tasks and responsibilities in the project: Solvakem leads the characterisation and supply of waste catalysts and other industrial by-products containing valuable metals to the R&D partners.

ENGIE Laborelec is a leading centre of expertise and research in the area of electrical energy technologies. With a highly qualified workforce with expertise in the entire electricity value chain, Laborelec supports the energy transition and the acceleration of the net zero carbon journey.

Main tasks and responsibilities in the project:

• Integration of renewable energy sources (RES) to the electrified recycling process and electrocatalyst production process
• Supply of spent catalyst sample and characterization data for testing electrochemical recycling technologies
• Data provision for integrated life-cycle sustainability assessment and support on technology roadmapping

Solvionic is an SME expert in the design, synthesis, production and commercialisation of ionic liquids (ILs). Trade secret know-how has been developed to maintain high quality of the products while scaling-up chemical processes, through the building of a continuous flow technology pilot-line production (20 T / year in 2022). The next step is the construction of industrial production lines, based on the same technology, to allows fast and reliable scale-up and to commit with industrial needs, mainly in the booming electrochemical energy storage market (Li-ion batteries and supercapacitors).

Main tasks and responsibilities in the project:

Solvionic will use its expertise on the design of task-specific ionic liquids to support the electrified FIREFLY process for the recycling of metal-based catalysts, production of electrocatalysts, and their validation in selected electrochemical applications.

Atmonia is developing a nitrogen electrolyser with our patented catalyst. The technology uses only air, water and electricity for direct ammonia production. This enables zero carbon ammonia production, when applying renewable electricity. The Atmonia nitrogen Electrolyser will not emit any greenhouse gases and is especially suitable in the new era of distributed renewable electricity generation. As well as creating sustainable ammonia fertilisers, our technology will aim to increase food safety and access to fuel, while also saving a large carbon footprint from the global distribution of fertiliser and fossil fuel.

Main tasks and responsibilities in the project:

Atmonia’s role within the FIREFLY project is to provide spent or off spec catalysts to the consortium, where the catalyst material will be recycled and provided back to our facilities for testing and confirming the successful production of recycled catalysts for nitrogen reduction reaction.

PNO Innovation Belgium is specialised in Innovation Management and funding, providing support services to private and public organizations in Innovation processes, Technology Transfer, IT solutions and funding for research, development and innovation.

Main tasks and responsibilities in the project:

PNO will lead Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation activities and will bring its international consulting experience into the consortium including extensive project and innovation management, exploitation and business planning expertise. A particular focus will be given to value chain stakeholders analysis, to identify and engage relevant stakeholders for further exploitation activities, as well as market and business analysis to support the consortium into bringing the Key Exploitable Results closer to the market.

INLECOM INNOVATION is a non-profit foundation (SME), based in Athens (Greece), which undertakes innovative research in the areas of information technology and applies it to various verticals, including: raw materials, security, transport/logistics, energy, healthcare, telecoms and other. INLECOM promotes broader adoption and take-up through supporting open architectures and methodological frameworks that are exploited in industry and/or commercialized, and through supporting commercial imperatives such as patent protection, market analyses, feasibility studies and business plans. The research fields of INLECOM INNOVATION range in AI/ML (digital twins, predictive modelling, decision support tools etc.), Distributed Ledgers (smart contracts, digital identities etc.) as well as integration and data assimilation platforms. Main tasks and responsibilities in the project: WP5 leader, responsible for the development and validation of a data-driven ML/AI based tool which will predict each individual process of the flowsheet for the recycling of a given spent, waste or off-specification catalyst optimizing user defined parameters.

Consulting and engineering from scratch to plant. In addition to a mechanical and process engineering and chemical production departments, we rely on our clean technology department which gives us the tools to develop sustainable solutions.

Main tasks and responsibilities in the project:

Inovertis is responsible for WP8, tasks 8.2 and 8.3.
The purpose of this WP is to demonstrate the lowering of environmental impact through an integrated LCA.

6TMIC is a French SME created in 2004 that specializes in innovative process engineering development and R&D management in the fields of renewable sources and sustainable development. 6TMIC is well involved in R&D French and EU industrial projects. The company gathered a big knowledge in chemical and electrochemical reactor modelling in fields of energy storage, hydrogen production, chemical conversions and CO2 capture.

Main tasks and responsibilities in the project:

Information coming soon

UCCS is a young and dynamic laboratory, formally established in 2006. Our research is focused on catalysis applied to three main topical themes: energy, environment and sustainable development.

Main tasks and responsibilities in the project:

• Synthesis of heterogeneous catalysts using recycled metals from the FIREFLY electrochemical toolbox
• Application and benchmarking of the catalyst obtained from the electrochemical toolbox to the valorisation of biomass

La Palma Research Centre (LPRC) is an independent, internationally active think-tank headquartered on Isla de La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. Our passion is sustainable development. Our strength is delivering out of the box solutions for technology transfer, foresight and policy analysis, social media based marketing, science communication and public engagement.

Main tasks and responsibilities in the project: 

• Develop a Material Flow Analysis on the catalyst-containing materials
• Develop an inventory of resources for the materials
• Develop technological roadmaps for the upscaling of the FIREFLY technology after the project time

TECNALIA RESEARCH & INNOVATION is a private, independent, non-profit applied research centre of international excellence. Legally a Foundation, TECNALIA is the leading private and independent research and technology organisation in Spain and one of the largest in Europe, employing more than 1,400 people (287 PhDs) and with an income of 114 Million € in 2020.

Main tasks and responsibilities in the project:

TEC will investigate the electroleaching (ELX) technology (TRL4) for different types of spent heterogeneous catalysts. The process will rely on milder electrolytes (DES) and in-situ generated oxidants, which will avoid a number of unit operations and the use of reagents, improving the economics compared to the SoA technologies and reducing GHG emissions. TEC will tune different parameters to selectively dissolve critical metals from the solid materials, as part of the electrochemical toolbox in the recycling of the spent catalysts.

Furthermore, TEC will identify valorisation routes for the side streams generated in the project and will estimate the avoided environmental impact.

SINTEF is a broad, multidisciplinary, not-for -profit research organisation with international top-level expertise in the fields of technology, natural sciences, medicine, and social sciences. We conduct contract R&D as a partner for the private and public sectors, and we are one of the largest contract research institutions in Europe with 2200 employees.

Main tasks and responsibilities in the project:

SINTEF participates in activities related to the development of innovative and sustainable electrified technologies to recover metals from solid catalyst waste. The approach lies on the electrochemical recovery of the target catalysts from molten salt media. The technologies developed by SINTEF, alone, or combined with other technologies developed by R&D partners, will allow the recovery of catalysts to be used in strategic chemical value chains.

From Renaissance philosophy to cutting-edge nanotechnology: KU Leuven has promoted ground-breaking research and high-quality education throughout its storied existence.

Main tasks and responsibilities in the project:

• MCP: Mechanochemical processing
• TEA: Technoechnomical assesement
• ESLX: Electro-driven solvoleaching
• ESX: Electro-driven solvent extraction
• ETMS: Electrochemical transformation in molten salts
• ETOS: Electrochemical transformation in organic solvents

E3L (Electrochemical & Environmental Engineering) is a research group belonging to the Chemical Engineering Department of the University of Castilla-La Mancha 8UCLM). Its main activity involves the development of electrochemical technology for several applications such as the potabilization and regeneration of contaminated water, oxidants production, energy systems, remediation of contaminated soils and bio-valorisation of industrial effluents.

Main tasks and responsibilities in the project:

UCLM is responsible for WP4 (tasks 4.1 and 4.2), task 6.3 of WP6 and task 7.2 of WP7. The purpose of these tasks is to optimize and develop the renewable energy sources for electrification (RES requirements, electricity generation and storage), process-level modelling of electricity generation and testing of recovery catalysts for the electrochemical production of hydrogen peroxide.

Johnson Matthey is a global leader in sustainable technologies. We apply our cutting-edge science and engineering to create solutions with our customers that make a real difference to the world around us. We’ve been leaders in our field for more than 200 years. As the world faces the challenges of climate change and resource scarcity, our sustainable solutions are catalysing the net zero transition: driving down transport emissions, decarbonising the energy and chemical industries and creating a circular economy.

Main tasks and responsibilities in the project:

Provide homogeneous and heterogeneous waste, spent and off-specification catalyst samples for partners involved in the electrochemical toolbox for metal recycling.