18/02/2025
Physicochemical vs Electrochemical Technologies for Metal Recovery – Main Insights, Comparison, Complementarity and Challenges
The quest toward the development of new, more eco-friendly removal/recycling/recovery methods for a range of valuable elements is intense nowadays. In this Review we present and discuss in a critical way the best available physicochemical processes versus modern electrochemical approaches for metal recovery of elements which form part of spent catalysts or other sources such as wastewater, mining waste and spent batteries. These techniques include coagulation/flocculation, precipitation, electrocoagulation/electroflotation, membrane electrolysis, electrodeposition/electrowinning and gas-diffusion electrocrystallization (GDEx).
