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The FIREFLY project, funded by the European Union, aims to revolutionize the recycling of metal-based catalysts through innovative, sustainable technologies. Work Package 2 (WP2) focuses on the supply and characterisation of waste catalysts, as well as mapping relevant resources, setting the stage for subsequent research and development activities.  

No less than 65 samples, both liquid and solid have been characterised up to M24 of the project, with several samples being rejected due to the presence of additional hazardous components or low concentration of the target metals.

The characterisation analysis of the samples  is being conducted by various R&D partners and data will be soon merged. Nevertheless, prior to the pilot phase, another round of characterisation analysis of spent heterogeneous (solid) and homogeneous (liquid) catalysts could potentially be needed.

Material Flow Analysis and GIS Inventory

Simultaneously, the group of researchers at LPRC have been working on a preliminary Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and GIS inventory of relevant sources. They have implemented the MaTrace methodology – widely used to reproduce both historical flows and stocks of metals resources and stocks of metals resources as well as predict how these will evolve in the future. The preliminary analysis focused on DeNOx catalysts from coal, oil, and gas-fired power plants, with the following key findings:

• Coal-fired catalysts: The catalyst stock is scheduled to be retired, with vanadium, tungsten, and molybdenum being the main elements present in the waste streams.
• Oil-fired catalysts: The outflow is considerably smaller than the one from coal or gas-fired power plants.
• Gas-fired catalysts: The outflow is similar to coal-fired power plants but is expected to increase in the future, with natural gas anticipated to be used for power generation in the foreseeable future.

DeNOx spent catalyst outflows in 2020, 2030 and 2040

The main countries with a higher amount of predicted spent catalyst were identified and plotted on a map with each bar corresponding to a decade – 2020, 2030, 2040.

After identifying numerous potential sources of waste catalysts, the GIS inventory has been narrowed down to the geolocation by considering every site and region where the outflow of spent catalyst is significant.

Researchers will continue data collection and enrich the MFA and GIS with other catalyst categories, ensuring a steady supply of characterised waste catalysts for further research. Moreover, data collected in this work package will be later included in the Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence (ML/AI)-based toolbox developed by INLECOM to predict the best recycling route for spent, waste or off-specification catalysts.

© La Palma Research Center