Particular Materials (PM) has developed a proprietary, patent pending process for the controlled precipitation of dissolved metals from aqueous solutions, which is currently employed for the synthesis of high-quality aqueous dispersions of nanosized metals and metal oxides. The continuous process is based on supercritical water and scarcely energy-intensive, doesn’t involve the handling of organic solvents, strong acids or flying powders, being extremely safe for the operators and the environment. Recently, PM has discovered that industrial wastewaters of specific industries could be directly employed as precursors for the synthesis of selected materials, quantitatively yielding a pure metallic nanopowder that can be easily separated from a metal-free aqueous phase. With this perspective, the project goal is to verify the feasibility, scalability and adaptability of the currently synthesis-focussed process, to the wastewater treatment for selected industries. The positive outcomes span multiple aspects: 1) PM’s process enables a circular use of water, which after treatment can be reused; 2) the recovered metal becomes a secondary raw product in powder form, which is valuable for further processing; 3) there is no added chemicals in the mass balance; 4) the only input is energy in the form of heat, making the process extremely advantageous where there is a caloric excess; 5) PM’s plant is modular and flexible, making a single installation adaptable to multiple uses.
This activity has received funding from the European Institute of innovation and Technology (EIT). This body of the European Union receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.