Project title: first of a kind commercial Compact system for the efficient Recovery Of CObalt Designed with novel Integrated LEading technologies
Funding programme: Horizon 2020
Action type: Innovation Action (IA)
Duration: 01/06/2018 – 30/11/2022
Overview of the CROCODILE project
Currently, the EU imports about 65% of its cobalt (approx. 10,000 tons/year) from geopolitically unstable countries such as Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Zambia or Central African Republic. Only 35% is produced from secondary sources, such as the recycling of spent batteries, super-alloys and hard metals.
The CROCODILE project aims to drastically reduce the supply risk of cobalt for the European industries by increasing the efficiency of recovery processes for cobalt (and other relevant materials). It strives to do so with lower energy costs and environmental impacts, providing solutions with low capital investment costs. And finally, it aims to maximize the exploitation of our ‘local’ waste.
Project objectives
- The CROCODILE project will showcase innovative metallurgical systems based on advanced pyro-, hydro-, bio-, iono- and electrometallurgy technologies for the recovery of cobalt and the production of cobalt metal and upstream products from a wide variety of secondary and primary European resources.
- CROCODILE will demonstrate the synergetic approaches and the integration of the innovative metallurgical systems within existing recovery processes of cobalt from primary and secondary sources at different locations in Europe, to enhance their efficiency, improve their economic and environmental values, and will provide a zero-waste strategy for important waste streams rich in cobalt such as batteries.
- CROCODILE will produce a first of a kind economically and environmentally viable mobile commercial metallurgical system based on advanced hydrometallurgical and electrochemical technologies able to produce cobalt metal from black mass containing cobalt from different sources of waste streams such as spent batteries and catalysts.
Our involvement in the CROCODILE project
PNO Innovation brings its international consulting experience into the consortium including extensive project and innovation management, exploitation and business planning expertise. A particular focus is given to value chain stakeholders analysis and PNO also provides support in tasks communication, exploitation and dissemination strategies and part of their execution.
